The Selfless Strategist's Early Rise
by Wolveblade
Summary: What would happen if when Pyrrha unlocked Jaune's Aura, she also released his semblance? How would Jaune's time at Beacon change with an early start to aura manipulation and use of his semblance? Follow along as the dorky knight makes new mistakes, avoids certain paths, and ultimately has an interesting ride towards his dream of being a Huntsman and a hero. Jaune x ?
1. Chapter 0 What Makes Each Soul Different

Ch 0 What makes each soul Different?

Jaune Arc is many things to many different people. So how would on accurately describe him if they were to give a clear view? Well that would depend on the person and how the interacted with him. If you asked his parents you'd hear that the boy was kind, helpful, smart, caring, ambitious, talented, full of life, and a wonderful sibling. Till his dream of being a huntsman was brought up, then their tune would change. They'd tell you how stubborn and unrealistic he could be. How he was ignorant of the world and understood nothing. That he was just a kid chasing a fairytale. Someone that let stories of old fill his head with grandure and expectations that could never come true.

So then how about if we asked his Sister? Well the wording would vary, but common trends would pop up. That he's a dork, a nerd with a hero complex, that he looked better in a dress then most women, that he picked up skills surprisingly fast, but lacked a drive for those things. They'd tell you he was a dreamer, a stubborn fool, and a hopelessly dense attempt at a gentleman. When his dream of being a huntsman comes up then? Well a couple of eyerolls and no real comment besides him being naive and stuck in the clouds. His younger sisters would tell you that while he was fit he lacked the fight of a real warrior. While his older sisters would tell you that he was a coward that never stood up for himself. That he was to full of himself yet lacked any self esteem thus making it impossible for others to follow him.

So now that we have family out of the way who should we ask next, His friends? People that would tell you he was a dorky, and fun guy that never cared who you were. Someone that kept his promises and was reliable for anything outside of a fight. Someone so dense he wouldn't know a girl liked him unless they knelt down and asked him to marry them. Someone that you'd never expected came from a family with 7 beautiful and talented sisters. Yet by that they meant he was surprisingly decent at just about anything he did, but not special. His classmates then? Well they'd say he was a average dude, smart yet no genius, athletic, but only about the middle of the pack. He was kinda attractive, but way to much of a dork to date, thought interesting enough to have around at times. How about his Teachers this time, the people tasked with his growth and had seen him grow up from the age of 5? Well that one was simple, he was smart, studious, hard working, and helpful. A rare breed of teenager that was polite and focused on his task. But that lacked any real drive to go far in life like his sisters. Someone that was wasting his abilities on a dream he had no chance in.

So if so many people saw him as a nice, but lacking guy does that mean that's what he was truly? How about if we look into the man of the hour's own thoughts. The things he thinks of himself everytime he looks in the mirror or is kept up at night plagued by thoguhts of his past and future. Well you'd find a surprisingly dark view of himself. He saw himself as a loser, a talentless hack, the black sheep of the Arcs past and present. He knew he was a coward from his many encounters with bullies, and that he was weak cause he could only ever shield people from pain never fend off the attackers. Sure he was hardworking, kind, and kept his promises, but anyone can do that. He couldn't even talk to the girl's he was interested in without tripping over himself, which leads to his clumsiness, and extreme lack of ability to avoid trouble. He was in shape sure, but that meant nothing compared to his bullies or those training to be huntsmen. He wasn't smart he just studied hard to give himself time for other things. Nothing he ever tried to becoem more skilled in went past a bit above average. And he wasn't anywhere close to making his dream come true. Heh, he wasn't surprised that his family didn't believve he was huntsman material. They were right that he wasn't skilled in combat, but they never let him try to get better. They claimed to want to protect him, but he knew that his parents didn't want to waste the time and funds to have him fail at a knew skillset/career option like usual. He Jaune Miles Arc was nothing, but an average nobody the shadow of the shining Arc lineage. He hated himself for being so worthless and the fact he couldn't accomplish anything on his own.

Jaune hated the fact that he wasn't talented at anything like his sisters. He wasn't gifted in hair styling or public speaking like his oldest sister Iris. Someone that in middle school won tournaments in debating, was the reason his sisters turned him into a living doll, and moved on to pursue a career in real estate. He lacked the cooking skills of the second eldest sister Saphron. Who could turn any meal into an experience, and whom had a strong foundation of chemistry to carry her to the future of Remnant's chefs. Olivia was a tomboy at heart and had amazing CQC skills along with a talent for painting. While she was self taught in fighting her art skills sky rocketed even further with tutors. But Jaune wasn't able to pick up art past a certain point and his parent forbid him from learning to fight. Violet and Bianca the comedians of the family could make anyone smile with a joke or well timed one liner. Add in their stellar abilities with creating clothing and fashion senses. Sure Jaune may have been better at repairing clothes then them, but they outshined him in every other department of clothing. Indigo the second youngest just under Jaune was another high tier stylist and massage expert. Her capabilities reaching further in the pampering devision then anything Jaune could ever hope to accomplish. Sure he helped others relax and heal, but he had nothing on her. Finally Shani the literal genius of the family her grades topping everyone family or classmate. She even managed to skip a couple grades and ended up in the same class as Jaune. She only stayed there cause their parents didn't want her to be to far seperated from her peers and, because she could have her older brother "protect" her.

Now you'd think that after Jaune there'd only be people that disliked him or had opinions of him after. But surprisingly those people rarely kept such an opinion of him and actually saw something few others ever got to glimpse. His bullies for example targetted him, because he was weaker and a dork. Making his life harder at every turn and insulting him on the regular. But they slowly noticed that their words did nothing to the boy. Sure he flinched and got depressed over the insults. But he would always mutter how "Even the people bullying me can see how lacking I am". After they noticed that they started seeing things they didn't before. Sure Jaune never fought back, but he never gave into their demands either. No one could get him to give up his money, or force him to break his promises. Really some would;ve even assumed him to be a masochist, but they and the victims of them knew different. Because both saw what he did even if he never made it obvious. He'd always stumble into another person's shake down or beat down and manage to become the new target. Yet the other victim always ended up able to slip away unharassed. Whenever someone was hurt the boy would offer his medical supplies, carry them to the nurses office, or even give them a massage to help. Didn't matter if that person was a stranger, a friend, a bully, human or faunus, not even if they had litterally just kicked his ass. The wimpy knight always came to the aid of others. He would push people forward and point out their better qualities. He'd assist his bullies and even compliment their tenascity. Plus every bully knew that you never messed with Jaune Arc's Family or friends. The wimp turned to a fiercely loyal guardian. Attempts to corner his sister would be met with well timed distractions. Threatening his friends would lead to the teachers catching wind of their activities and/or a lanky blonde tripping into them. And if there was one thing everyone that bullied Juane or was a fellow victim could agree on it was his eyes. The beautiful ocean blue that held so much kindness and care could turn into a intimidating storm when he decided something was threatening those he cared for.

So what part's of Jaune would be the true parts of him. What parts of the lanky dork made up his being or better yet his soul. What attributes could be said to fuel the hidden and surprisingly large aura reserves of the apparently average Blonde. And what part of him was so strong that it would come to affect the world around him as his semblance. Well that's simple for all of his traits good or bad, no matter how he or others saw him. There was an indeniable truth to one Jaune Arc. Jaune Miles Arc scion to the Arc family was Selfless. No matter what he did the person named Jaune put others before himself. When his sister's each began to truly pursue their future jobs/careers/life styles Jaune assisted them with all his power. Never letting them fall to the notion that they couldn't acomplish their dream. Whenever they needed help or a test subject he was always the first to volunteer. When his friends sought to do something Jaune was always there with them helping them learn and perfect their skills and techniques. Whenever everyone was in a panic the wobbly kneed shaky hands boy always led them to safety. Even if he had to sacrfice his well being to do so. Jaune Arc the naive dreamer, the shadow of the Arc name, the wimpy dork, was well and truly the most selfless person that any who met him knew. I mean come on where everyone else's semblance assists themselves and maybe others as well. Jaune Arc's literal soul came to the aid of others. Strengthening them, helping them heal, bolstering their reserves, and even enhancing their semblances. Truly Jaune was a person who gave more to others then he kept for himself. Heck the only big thing he ever selfishly held onto was his dream to be a hero and he strove to be one no matter the means. Sure he might have falsely become a huntsman in training, but no one else had the heart of a huntsman like the Dorky Knight of Beacon academy. The soul of a hero with the powers to make others greater then they would be alone. Truly a selflessly selfish Knight in lackluster armor.

With that in mind, what do you think would happen if Jaune unlocked his semblance when Pyrrha unlocked his Aura. Well if you're interested this universe is one of the ones that shows just how similar and different his time at Beacon would be. And give you a glimpse at some of the things he did that you never got to see him do. So if you want to see the Knight that keeps on giving finally get a small reward for his efforts early. Then stay tuned and follow along on a slightly different adventure in Remnant.


	2. Ch 1 And By My Shoulder Protect Thee

_**Author notes/Review Reply:**_

 **First Off I want to thank everyone for their interest in this storyline. I appreciate the early reviews and the recommendations for pairings. To make things clear the mystery girl will be one of 3 girls I just haven't decided which. So feel free to follow along with this slightly different Jaune and tell me who you think would fit best as his romantic partner. The choice is between Pyrrha, Ruby, & Velvet. Mainly because they're all kind and are likely to see parts of him others would overlook.**

 **Thank you all for choosing this story and staying along for the ride if you so choose to. I hope you all enjoy and I look forward to further reviews.**

 _Special thanks to MidKnightMoonglow99 & REVAN004 for their early recommendations taking into account this version of Jaune. I appreciate you all for your help and interest._

 _Love WolveBlade~_

 **Ch 1** _ **And By My Shoulder Protect Thee**_

 _Emerald Forest_

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." As those words were uttered and the red glow transferred from Pyrrha to Jaune a warmth transfused his body. It felt like a blanket yet was fluid as it washed over him and then suddenly traveled deeper piercing into his very being. And that's when everything exploded for the 2 teens. Red touching the sun that incapsulated Jaune's aura. Because there was no other way to explain the white ball of life that was Jaune's soul. His aura was the ball in the center white hot and dense, but his semblance was like the fire that glowed at the edges. But neither teen saw this instead they felt the interaction of their beings. As Pyrrha's soul seemed to attract Jaune's soul calling out for it and his aura was more than happy to come to the call of another. Just as Jaune was more than happy to come to the aid of a stranger. Soon the flash of white cleared, but instead of just Jaune glowing a transparent white so to did Pyrrha.

Jaune looked at his hands before looking up at the awed champion. "Pyrrha?" Emerald orbs focused on Jaune's ocean blue eyes while the cut on his cheek healed almost instantly. "I used my aura to unlock yours, but the energy now protecting you is your own." Yet as she said this she seemed almost confused. Unlocking another person's aura required you to use your own and usually left you a bit winded. But Pyrrha rather then tired felt rejuvenated and her reserves if anything felt full and dare she say it a bit larger. Jaune, on the other hand, couldn't help the soft smile on his face as he closed his eyes. He suddenly felt complete as an energy new and yet seemingly familiar covered his body, flowed through his veins, and seemed to hug him in a gentle embrace. Then he too got an odd feeling, his face shifting to thoughtful. He just got this feeling that should anyone be hurt that he could pass on this gift. Share what Pyrrha had so kindly given him, bolster the strengths of those around him, or even himself. The way to do it foreign to him yet he knew that he could do it at a moments notice. The 2 partners finally looked back at each other and they both seemed to grin in satisfaction knowing they found an ally to rely on. And with that, they set off towards the north.

The trip through the Emerald forest for the pair was a comfortable silence. Even while they stayed vigilant and at the ready, a sort of natural cohesion made knowing the other was there comforting. Jaune obviously wanted to get to know his partner, but decided not dying in a Grimm infested forest came first. So as they came upon a cave with a depiction of a scorpion and humanoid figures fighting "Think this is it?" Jaune asked deciding to make a torch. They'd been told to find ruins in search of a relic, but not where said ruins would be. And while Pyrrha herself wasn't to keen on the cave she'd been distracted by how quickly Jaune had fashioned a torch. For a guy previously lacking aura, he seemed quite prepared when it came to supplies in his little satchel packs clipped to his belt. So she didn't voice her opinion until after they were already in the cave. "I don't believe this is it" her voice came out cautious. Jaune, on the other hand, spoke exasperatedly "Pyrrha, I made the torch do you think you can humor for maybe like 5 more feet?" Not a moment later the blonde dork tripped and the torch bounced into a puddle of cave water. Extinguishing the light. Pyrrha spoke up again a little more calculating. "Do you feel that?" Jaune from the ground could only sigh "The soul-crushing regret?" "No it's warm" And though in the dark they continued to search till they found a gold glowing item.

 _Off at the Ruins_

Yang and Blake were talking about how easy initiation was after picking out their Relic. They'd easily decided on the pony though that's mainly because Blake had no preference. That's when they heard a high pitched girly scream echoed ominously across the forest. "Some girl's in trouble...Blake, did you hear that?" The blonde bombshell spoke in worry as Blake was distracted by the other voices her Faunus sense picked up. Unsure if she was actually hearing and seeing what she now knew was 2 girls on a giant nevermore.

 _At the mouth of the cave_

Pyrrha sprinted out of the cave with the speed of a true athlete. Behind her, the sound of insectoid footsteps was drowned out by a girlish scream. Though the person currently screaming help in the 'manliest' way possible would never admit to such a thing. "Ahaha help, Pyrrha do something!" The champion worriedly tried to advise the dorky knight. "Jaune whatever you do don't let... go" But before the word go could leave her mouth the Deathstalker had flicked its tail effectively catapulting Jaune unintentionally towards his goal. Being a strong warrior with plenty of experience Pyrrha did the tactical thing when faced with the giant scorpion... she bolted without a second thought.

Jaune continued to scream as he sailed through the air just over the forest canopy. If he wasn't so panicked he may have been able to enjoy the fact he was technically flying and tumbling without a so much as an upset stomach. Instead, his thoughts were more along the lines of. 'Oh god I didn't know Grimm could get that big, Pyrrha's being chased by a giant monster that just flung me like I was a newborn kitten, oh god I'm going to die, the world is spinning and I'm going to hit the ground and die before helping anyone.' Hey can you blame him, he'd jumped into a world of super-powered warriors and was now falling to what he assumed was his death a second time on the same day. So he could be forgiven for not thinking straight at the current moment.

Whether it was pure coincidence or the universe "throwing him" a bone. Jaune managed to collide with a disoriented Ruby Rose mid-air. Effectively saving her the pain of hitting the ground at terminal velocity and making him indirectly her savior. So as they sat awkwardly in the canopy of a tree Ruby seeing stars and Jaune upside down surprisingly sound of mind and body. The young man couldn't help but blink owlishly before immediately checking if his first friend at Beacon was okay. Only passively seeing the entrance of the other Beacon potentials. The second Ruby regained her vision she was met with an upside down mop of blonde hair. "Hey Ruby" He tiredly and awkwardly stated as he reached out and tapped her head. Ruby blinked as her mind cleared up and she felt like she hadn't just been slammed into a tree. In her rush to get down the tree, she didn't notice that her body had a white outline temporarily.

As Jaune began untangling himself and slowly moving to the branch the Ruby had just vacated he couldn't help, but take a moment to think on what he'd just done. The feeling of the warm energy in his body transferring into Ruby had been... for lack of a better term satisfying. It gave him the same feeling he got when he managed to divert violence away from others. Even if a small sliver of his aura, which he had learned from Pyrrha it was called, had been lost. Shaking his head and letting it come to focus on the current dangers. "Pyrrha" he half-shouted seeing his partner enter the clearing with the ancient deathstalker on her tail. His quickened his efforts to get loose and was finally on the branch a bit out of breath.

Standing up on the rather sturdy branch the Blonde Knight was about to hop down till his eyes locked onto a mass of white falling from the sky. A confident grin slipped onto his face as he bent his knees preparing to jump to her rescue. And it seemed like his aura seemed to understand his intention because it bolstered those efforts with little thought. And like a spring he was off rather than diving forward he moved like he'd just leapt toward another ledge. Capturing Weiss in his arms in a bridal carry Jaune could hear the romantic savior music in his head as he spoke in a surprisingly smooth voice. "Just dropping in?" Crystalline blue met oceanic blue as they sailed to the side. But sadly Jaune's luck ended there as he'd never jumped using aura to empower his legs before. The duo was coming up on one of the ruin's stone pillars. "Oh gods, nooo" His voice cracked as he maneuvered himself to take the hit. His back slamming into the pillar cushioning Weiss as he fell again and landed on landed on his ass. "Ow " He groaned as Weiss sat comfortably on his lap checking her nails while sarcastically stating "My hero", "My back"

As Pyrrha was sent sliding in front of the other initiates Yang groaned "Great the gang's all here, now we can die together." Ruby in an attempt to prove she was good enough to be here rushed forward. "Not if I can help it" She shot forward and with the recoil from her sniper and flew towards the Deathstalker. As it swung its pincer at her Ruby was surprised to see it was moving slower in her perception. Reminding her a bit of how the world looked when she used her semblance. Her silver eyes shimmering a soft white as she was able to turn the claw strike to the chest into a springboard for her to gain distance from the beast. Distracted by the odd occurrence she didn't see the Nevermore firing it's feathers until the last second. Yet even though she'd noticed at the last second she had more than enough time to dodge. Her eyes able to follow the slower looking projectiles and activate her semblance causing her to rocket away at high speeds. The white shimmer fading away as if it wasn;t there. Ruby moved over to her sister who had raced to save her thinking she'd be skewered and offered her a hand. Sadly they were both distracted and didn't see the Deathstalker coming. A blur of white shot past them erecting a wall of ice that caught the giant Grimm's stinger. The sisters looked up to see Weiss standing before them.

Jaune watched as Ruby and Weiss had shot forward showing off skill and power he had no way to replicate. How could he possibly catch up with, much less compete with such individuals? Yet even while doubting himself his vision of the surroundings was sharp. As he noticed the giant bird Grimm circling back more than likely intent on finishing the job. "It's circling back" He shouted warning his allies as they all moved to regroup. They quickly came to the conclusion that they didn't need to fight. So he and Ruby moved to grab their respective relics. A rook for Jaune and a Knight for Ruby neither thinking on why chess pieces were supposedly relics. And with that, the crowd of 8 initiates raced away from the 2 hulking monsters hoping to lose them and get back to Beacon.

 _Cliff Side Ruins_

It hadn't taken long for the 2 older Grimm to corner the teens at a cliffside forcing them to attempt to cross the stone bridge in hopes of avoiding at least the Deathstalker. Sadly for them, the Nevermore had other plans as it slammed thru the lower supports effectively separating the group. Ren, Pyrrha, and Blake were left to fend off the Deathstalker while cornered to the broken bridge. When Jaune saw Blake get swatted aside like nothing he immediately warned Nora that they needed help. He soon came to regret telling the girl he wouldn't be able to make the jump as she swatted him back. With a powerful swing of her mighty hammer, the ginger became the 3rd thing to launch Jaune like a catapult today. Upon landing, he noticed that Blake was no longer with them and that the bridge was starting to crumble and fall. "We gotta go, now" He ordered the other 3 following his lead as the blonde drew his blade his sheath forming into a shield.

Without hesitation they rushed the Deathstalker head-on,intent on getting past to safety. Almost subconsciously the 2 shield wielders took the edges. The large Grimm intent on killing them attempted to pincer them both literally and tactically with his well... pincers. Pyrrha managed to deflect one of them by sliding forward against the ground and angling the claw away fro herself. But Jaune, on the other hand, did something that later on he'd realize was quite impressive. He managed to take the full brunt of the second pincer with his body alone and then shift the momentum away from him. Pyrrha then followed him up with a lunge forward that forced the second pincer back to create an opening as Jaune moved himself in between the first pincer and a return course. Ren taking advantage of the opening rushed down the middle spraying the Grimm with bullets that did little more than pissing it off. He was soon forced to dodge around its deadly stinger as the Deathstalker tried to impale him. But it missed him by a hair's breadth as he sidestepped the plunge. Thus giving the eastern boy the chance to latch on to the back of the stinger before the Deathstalker could retract it. Carried along for the ride the stoic fighter let loose a salvo of bullets into the joint connecting the stinger to the tail. Causing the beast to scream in pain, Nora not one to be left out of the fun began to bombard it with grenades. The ancient Grimm smartly decided t shield itself and in the process knocked back the 2 vanguards.

Pyrrha and Jaune managed to land while sliding backward both standing at the ready. The only difference is Jaune's legs shimmered white imperceptibly for a moment. One of Nora's grenades managed to force the Death stalker's pincers apart long enough for Pyrrha to launch Milo in javelin form into one of its offending eyes just before it could shield itself again. Flailing in pain the Grimm managed to shake Ren off and fling him into one of the stone pillars somewhere behind it. Jaune didn't let Ren's efforts go to waste cause he immediately saw the stinger dangling oddly barely attached. "Pyrrha!" he shouted before motioning to the stinger. She seemed to almost read his mind "Done" and launched her shield like a buzz saw severing the stinger from what little material it still clung to. Her shield rebounding off a pillar behind the beast and unnaturally flying back to Pyrrha's arm. Which she found had been easier to pull off than usual. Her arm shimmering white just as the shield had bounced, dispersing as it returned. Jaune turned to the ginger bomber with a sharp gaze "Nora, Nail it!" The girl hopped forward while Pyrrha stood under her shield in a crouch. "Heads up" Once on top of the shield the bomber propelled herself along with both her grenade and Pyrrha acting as a springboard.

As Nora came to the apex of her accent the Deathstalker was disoriented by its stinger impacting its head. Soon the sound of an explosion was heard and Nora began spinning forward at high speed. In no time she reintroduced herself with the Scorpion Grimm by literally hammering the creature's stinger into its head. The sheer force of the impact shattering the edge of the bridge which launched Pyrrha and Jaune behind the deathstalker. One finally explosion simultaneously launched Nora forward, finished off the bridge, and sent the Deathstalker hurtling towards the abyss and its own demise. Jaune and Nora both flopped on the ground, while Pyrrha managed to stick a hero landing just as Ren managed to rejoin the group before he effectively fell overly in fatigue. The fight now over allowed the poor boy a breather.

As Jaune rolled off his back and onto his hands and knee he looked up just in time to see Ruby's plan in action. His mind marveling at her creativity with the idea of a human slingshot. Perfectly utilizing all of her teammates' strengths along with her own. He watched in awe as the giant Nevermore was clotheslined and then dragged up the cliff side. Propelled by nothing other than some weird symbols underneath Ruby's feet and the recoil of her sniper scythe. His mind instantly saving this information for future reference in case he ever worked with them. He managed to sit on his knees just as Ruby reached the cliff edge and severed the flying monstrosity's head landing in a rather cool pose. Ruby herself was surprised to find she was only slightly winded. Not noticing a white shimmer disperse off her body as it finally lost its charge. A sense of accomplishment flowed through all 8 warriors knowing the battle was won.


	3. Chapter 2 Aura For DummiesSlip Up

**Ch 2** _ **Aura For Dummies And A Slip Of The Tongue  
**  
_ **Thank you again for the interest and Reviews, I'll try my best to keep the bulk of the paragraphs smaller and easier to track, but I have a small thing with some paragraphs looking to small to my brain even if I know it's not true. After this chapter, the updates will probably be longer and more sporadic in the spacing of release. I hope you all enjoy.**

 _Beacon Dorms, JNPR's Room Midnight_

Jaune stared at his onesie-clad hands as they glowed white dimly. The roof of his new dorm room making it easier to focus on his hands because of it's bland design. ' I'm finally here, my first step to becoming a huntsman, a hero, & someone that can help' He tightened his hands into fists as his darker thoughts took over next. 'But do I deserve to be here, not only did I fake my way in, but the others are so much more powerful than me. I nearly buckled when I saw my first real Beowulf, and yet Pyrrha took care of it like it was child's play. I watched them all fight those giant monsters without any hesitation. While I'd almost vomited every time I moved closer to one.'

His knuckles started going white as his fists clenched even harder turning his palms purple. This was his dream, his one true goal, but was it worth it? Did he really have what it took to be here, to catch up, to not be a burden like always? He took a deep breath his dulled eyes sharpening just a bit as he released his fingers from their hold. His aura seeming to wash away the normally lingering pains. Aura something he'd learned just today was an important part of every huntsman. It even explained how people good face the monsters of the night and come out mostly unscathed.

He had none of the training, little knowledge of his enemies, he was barely strong enough to swing his sword half effectively, and he'd just gotten the bare minimum piece to being a huntsman in training. Yet again he looked at his hands as he let his energy flow over, his aura traveling at his will. It was odd how he seemed to just know how to get it to move, but yet he felt like a child that had just been given a Rubix cube. Sure he knew how to move the pieces, but he didn't know how to maneuver it to complete the colored sides, much less complete the puzzle.

Yet the thought of his aura as a puzzle seemed to grab his focus, he was always pretty good at solving puzzles and riddles. He happily remembered the few times his sisters had tried to use riddles or complicated puzzles to win a bet so he'd wear another dress or try new nail polish. He shivered a touch at that part, but a soft and confident smile graced his lips remembering it hadn't ever worked. Just like how after the first few time's he'd been tricked into playing checkers, then chess, and even then remnant the game how he'd quickly get ahead of his sisters. It truly was sad that the only real talent he seemed to have was in games. Yet maybe thinking of his aura could work the same, since the whole point of a skill was to get better at it and playing games over and over increased your skill in it.

Jaune smiled a little bigger as he began to configure a mental game for his aura. 'So if I think of Aura as the power source and my semblance as an ability. Does that mean I could potentially find other ways to use the energy? Are their other abilities that people have that I can copy? Like maybe that one traveling huntsman that kept showing off how he could flick a quarter and have it impale the dart board.' An ecstatic grin started to form on the boys face, oh the possibilities.

But like usual his smile fell as his original problem caught back up with his thoughts. He was behind his now classmates in both ability and knowledge. He already had a strong plan for getting ahead of his studies, he was no slouch when it came to learning. Even if he couldn't compare to Shani he still had his old classmates beat. His problem was physical prowess, experience, fighting ability, and the responsibilities of being a leader. He was still reeling from the reveal of that last one. Moving back on topic he could up his work out regiment, to a decently absurd degree if his aura healed the damage. But experience came with doing and skill came with experience. Sure he could read about the techniques he wanted, but knowing and putting into practice were 2 different things. And unlike before he didn't have teachers or his sisters to point out what he did wrong and assist him. And he had literally no clue on how to be a leader and wasn't ready for that responsibility added to his already mounting list of problems.

As the sheer size of the hurdles he had to overcome was put before him he started to doubt again. He'd never been beyond average at something before, never talented, and hard work never seemed to be enough. Add in the fact that his peers had years of experience over him and the task was daunting and seemed impossible. But a voice whispered in the back of his mind telling him to chase his dream, telling him to push forward, he'd promised himself he wouldn't give up and an Arc never goes back on their word. 'Unless you're dad' A bitter part of him mused sarcastically. Jaune had never given up on anything before. Sure he'd stopped many activities, but he never gave up he just found his limit in the skill without throwing his life in it. Because there were only 2 things he was willing to put all of his effort and life into and in a way they were one and the same. His dream to be a hero encompassing his want to help as many people as he could. With that thought, he drifted off to sleep with a determined grin.

 _JNPR Dorm 6:30am_  
Jaune took a step out of the ensuite bathroom fully dressed in his uniform. His team, and wasn't that still weird to think about, were just starting to wake up though Ren still looked to be deep in dreamland. Oh well, if it was anything like the morning of initiation he knew Nora would get him up since she'd so kindly did it for both of them then(He was just unlucky enough to sleep next to the ninja). Pyrrha looked like a robot set on auto-pilot as she started her morning routine, and Nora was sat up in her bed with wild bed head looking like a Zombie. "Hey Pyr, Nora good morning manage to sleep as well as Ren there?" He asked catching the 2 girls' attention, Pyrrha yawned out a good morning as Nora's eyes widened in eagerness while patting down her hair. Jaune recognized the gaze she was giving Ren's sleeping form from his many years sharing a room with sisters, poor Ren.

While Pyrrha moved into the bathroom to change and Nora began her diving attempt at awakening the log that was his male teammate, Jane opened his scroll to check out their schedules. It was odd having all of their schedules even if it made sense in a technical way for the leader to have it. The fact just hammering in his new responsibility as he figured out which classes they all had together or separate. He quickly opened up the school map and began to mark each class with colors and numbers. Setting up little paths for them to take to save on time getting lost like he used to do for himself in every new school or semester.

As the one-sided wrestling match between the not together-together partners and the sounds of the shower came within Jaune's perception he grabbed Ren's uniform and walked over to hand it to him. "Here take this and your showering stuff. We'll leave so Nora and Pyrrha can have privacy to change. Since there's a communal shower down the hall in case any rooms shower breaks down you can get ready then." The barely conscious ninja nodded thankfully with a sigh of relief. Grateful for someone making his morning a little easier. Before reaching under his bed and grabbing what little bathing supplies he had. His leader offering to be a shoulder to lean on till he was awake enough to walk on his own.

Nora had a large grin on her face as her leader led her best friend out the room acting as a crutch for her tired sloth. She locked eyes with him as he was closing the room door making sure it'd be locked behind him. "I already got your schedule and mapped out the way to classes for you. It should be in your messages and we'll meet up at the cafeteria. Tell Pyrrha so she knows too"He gave her a soft smile and began his trek the door clicking behind him. The ginger felt it was already like having a second more talkative Ren in her life. "Of course Jaune Jaune!"

 _Beacon Communal showers_  
Ren sighed happily as he finally rinsed his hair. The smell of pine and lotus reaching his nostril as he turned off the shower. He really did appreciate his new leader's attentiveness to their team. He had talked to him a bit on the short trip to the showers. Learning that the guy had already checked their schedules, confirmed the times, and even mapped out their routes for them. Not only that, but the boy had already applied for a training arena for after classes. Stating it was for himself, but in case the rest of them wanted to get an early start to training he'd gotten a bigger one.

Walking into the small locker room to where Jaune and his clothes were he noticed his Leader at work on something. He had his scroll in one hand and his other hand was glowing white as his aura covered it. Piquing the stoic man's interest "What're you up to Jaune?" he asked calmly. Ocean blue eyes looked up in focus that shifted to an oddly nice softness. "Oh uh hey Ren, I was just practicing with my aura. Trying to learn how to work with it after just getting it just yesterday." They both stilled as Jaune said that, Ren in disbelief and Jaune in a panic. While Jaune tried to keep a natural face, Ren just kept his neutral look like normal. Having been long used to crazy things happening with Nora around. "Ah, well that's rather surprising to hear since you're doing something rather high tier for a beginner in aura usage." Jaune's panic shifted to confusion. "Really, I was sure this was normal I mean I saw all of you guys doing it and I've been able to do it from the start. So I assumed it was pretty basic." The two locked eyes both with an intrigued gaze.

Ren took this opportunity to look at what Jaune had on his scroll and was further intrigued. The currently open page was one about Basic Aura arts, mainly how to cloak the body or specific parts. The leader of team JNPR was getting more and more intriguing as most people that got their aura unlocked tried to rush to advanced techniques or attacks. Yet even though he had an apparent natural talent for its manipulation Jaune was focusing on the basics. "I see you are working on offensive cloaking. I'm assuming its that's because you already have the hang of basic cloaking?"

Jaune was equal parts nervous and intrigued right now. Nervous, because he'd just told another person he hadn't had his aura before coming here, and Intrigued at the silent man for ignoring that fact. He even seemed to be taking a vested interest in his attempts. "Uh, hehe, yeah I mean like I said the basic cloaking just kinda came naturally to me. So when I read that I could make it apply to things besides myself I wanted to know how to start going about that." He smiled sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "It's slow going, but I mean a strong foundation keeps the house from falling right?" He laughed awkwardly hoping to dispell what he saw as a tense silence.

Ren began to get dressed putting his night clothes away in a locker he'd claim in here along with his bathing supplies. He looked over his leader for the first time and tried to get a read on his style, but what he got confused him. The taller boys build was athletic, but not at a huntsman level, he wasn't bulky, and he didn't look all that agile. Yet he remembered the boy deflecting a pincer from the Deathstalker and the boy's tactical planning was definitely sound. While he'd seen the stinger as just a weapon to get rid of Jaune had seen an opportunity that he used to their advantage effortlessly. A small smile graced Lee Ren's lips Beacon was going to be more enjoyable than he previously thought.

 _Beacon Cafeteria 7:15am_  
Team JNPR sat at the cafeteria with their food. Seeing as Jaune and Ren had gotten there early they'd each grabbed something for their partners. Now with both girls here they'd begun getting to know each other. "Wait so our leader got into Beacon without his aura unlocked?" Nora asked her best friend before getting an affirmative nod from Pyrrha who mentioned she unlocked it. "Oh my gosh, that makes Jaune Jaune even cooler than before. Our Fearless leader is the best. So now we have a kick-ass champion, a totally awesome ninja, myself the queen of hammers and pancake, and to top it all off we have our fearless leader to lead us into battle with his awesome plans!" Nora was wiggling in her seat in either extreme joy or from a sugar rush compliments of the 2 stacks of pancakes she'd devoured.

Jaune shuffled in his seat uncomfortable from the praise he really didn't want his teammates to have unrealistic expectations. It was already bad enough he was going to have to catch up with them, but he didn't want them to get hurt thinking he was better then he was. But Nora wasn't even giving him a chance to speak, Pyrrha had placed a hand on his shoulder with a confident smirk, and Ren had given him a confident nod. How was he suppose to bring up the fact that he sucked like this, oh gods he really needed to get to work on his personal training as soon as classes were over. Luckily he doubted Nora's nickname would stick, even if a part of him enjoyed how it made him seem cooler.

Trying to get the topic off of himself Jaune cleared his throat and turned to the three. "So uh, I was wondering if we could go over our fighting styles that way we can see how we'd work in a group fight." The 2 calmer members of team JNPR began to think of how to word their styles. But luckily Nora would give them time as she was happy to answer the question. "Oh, oh me first. So I fight with Magnhield a hammer/grenade launch combo, I mainly focus on melee combat and powerful swings, but I can clear the field at medium range with my grenades and can enhance my hammer swings with explosions for either more striking power or to quickly shift position." Jaune was typing down this information before he visibly flinched at the mention of moving with explosions. Remembering how she 'helped' him cross the bridge.

Ren took the initiative to speak next since he worked best with Nora. "Well, I mainly focus on CQC and martial arts. I use stormflower an SMG/crescent blade to make my attacks deadlier. I can shoot to medium range, but my rounds aren't high caliber so they quickly lose their stopping power. I'm also quite proficient with aura techniques and manipulation." He let his aura flow into one of his fingers before crushing the empty can of orange juice he'd gotten for breakfast with a lazy touch. Jaune's eyes grew wide in interest as he quickly compiled the info with what he'd already seen from their one fight together.

Pyrrha watched in amusement as her leader looked over at her with anticipation, but unlike some kind of crazed fan or company, the boy looked generally interested in what she had to say as herself. "Well, I'm effective at all ranges as Milo can shift between a Xiphos, a javelin, and a rifle. My rounds are decently high caliber, but nothing as crazy as that girl Ruby's from yesterday. Akuo my shield and Milo in Javelin for are my main forms of medium range. As I can throw both of them and get them back quite easily. Though I'd personally say my strongest area of combat is melee. I'm most effective at that range use Milo as a Xiphos or javelin to change my reach and Akuo to both defend and press the attack. I'm also quite adept in hand to hand should I be disarmed" She spoke professionally and to the point. Though did look a bit thoughtful as she spoke about her strongest range. While Jaune quickly typed on his scroll his eyes shifting between it and her. When she finished he gave her a soft boyish smile that made her cheeks heat up ever so slightly.

Jaune could already see how they would set themselves up and even a few ways to combine their strengths. His mind running through plans to use their strengths and his own lack of them to assist them. He looked up when Nora spoke. "What about you fearless leader what's your style?" Freezing in his work Jaune mentally berated himself. How could he forget that asking them for their fighting style would lead to questions about his or rather his lack of one? He had to think fast or else risk throwing himself into suspicion.

Brushing his hair back attempting to hide his nerve Jaune smiled a bit awkwardly. "Well unlike you guys I don't really have a ranged option. I work with a sword and shield combo, but I'm more centered around tanking hits." 'If you count taking beatings as tanking' "I can fight without them, but I wouldn't rely on it in a pinch. And along with Ren, I guess I also technically specialize with aura manipulation. I've cloaking myself is as easy as breathing for me and giving my aura to others is just as easy. But I'm stronger in the tactical areas then combat so I guess that's a plus with me being a leader." He gave an odd laugh before shrugging like it was nothing.

When Jaune focused on the 3 of them though he was met with oddly focused looks. His heart rate began to pick up and he began to sweat under their gazes. 'Shit did I say something wrong? Did I somehow give myself away?! shit shit shit!' His mind began assuming the worst as he clammed up and barely managed to keep a half decent poker face. As his 3 teammates, all looked between each other asking an unspoken answer, where they seemed to come to a silent conclusion. 'Please be a question I can lie my way out of!' His fingers were crossed underneath the table.

Pyrrha slowly spoke up after deciding a simple question of what worked best here. "Jaune what did you mean when you said giving aura to others?" The stiff boy instantly untensed in both relief and confusion, though his body quickly stiffened again at that. "Uh, well, I mean... You know what I mean Pyrrha like how you unlocked my aura. I can give my aura to others like a recharge isn't that normal? Since you kinda also did that or is that some kinda high-level technique?" Ren who had linked his hands together in front of his face blinked slowly. "Jaune unlocking someone's aura is less giving them aura and more using your own to unlock the door per se. Did you unlock somebody else's aura?" Jaune turned his head sideways in confusion. "Huh no, why would you think that?"

Nora looked at Jaune and then just decided to ask the obvious. "Then what did you mean by giving aura to other people?" Jaune blinked owlishly and just looked at the 3 of them oddly. "I mean that I use my aura to fill your reserves. I mean sure it has other effects like boosting your healing, but giving it to you is the most basic way of stating it. I mean I know for sure I already did it with Ruby" Pyrrha was confused about this until she remembered how it felt after unlocking his aura. "Wait, a semblance, it must be his semblance. I remember after unlocking his aura that I didn't feel tired, but rather refreshed and lighter. So his semblance must be an aura transfer of some kind!" Ren calmly turned to face Jaune appraisingly absorbing this information.

Nora literally latched onto Jaune in a tackle-hug. "Oh my gosh, does that mean you can refill our auras on command and you said it makes us heal fast. That means I can upgrade my regiment again." Her cerulean eyes locked onto Ren as she gave him puppy dog eyes. "And we can also enhance yours to right Renny~" Rens lips formed into a frown while it would help him he was not big on suddenly having a lot more work in training. He was tired enough in general already living with Nora and training. So in a faint hope to prevent the hell that was Nora planning his workouts as well a partial worry for his teammate he spoke up again. "Are you sure you really have the reserves to keep us filled? I'm sure such a semblance is costly."

Jaune looked at Ren oddly then to Pyrrha imploringly. "Uh, well Pyrrha said I have a lot of aura. So I think I'll be fine and refilling Ruby felt like I barely used anything, but she could've been barely hurt so I dunno... Here let's test it out" And while he still sprouted a confused look he lightly grabbed Pyrrha's arm. His aura came to the forefront and began to flow from his body to both the bubbly bomber and the Amazonian champion. Rather than just refill what negligible loss of aura they'd had from healing wounds and fatigue from yesterday. His aura seemed to also overflow their reserves while not actually leaving.

To Pyrrha, the feeling was familiar yet different from last time. Rather than feeling like she'd just been refreshed after a good days sleep she felt better than ever. Her body didn't just feel light again it felt... better tuned like her aura was flowing easier than normal. And that odd feeling from the Deathstalker battle with her shield came back yet this time she could lightly feel the presence of all the magnetic materials in the cafeteria even without focusing on them like she usually had to if it wasn't her weapons. That and she felt his aura without the blinding that had happened from unlocking it. While her aura flowing normally made her feel protected and ready. Her partner's seemed to envelop her in a feeling of safety and warmth like a river flowing, but ready to defend her body, it was... nice. And as all the effects besides the lightness faded into the background emerald orbs focused on the boy that was garnering more and more of her attention.

Nora's body was normally always at least a touch energized throughout the day. Her semblance absorbing the minor charges of electricity that her clothes and friction created. But when her leader's aura washed over her world changed. The warmth of his aura came with a feeling like she was stronger, lighter, and like her aura was more potent. What little charge her semblance had stored up seem to also get enhanced by this process. And She felt a secondary flow of energy through her body like she was more than just a circuit, but also an outlet. She looked at her hand as sparks seemed to dance across her fingertips rather than just inside her muscles. This, this was a wonderful feeling and Jaune's aura had such a warm feeling even more so than her own aura. Like a pair of warm arms were hugging her with a blanket. And then all the effects besides the lightness seemed to fade into the background

Ren watched as Jaune began to glow white quickly followed by the 2 people touching him. When Jaune stopped glowing he watched as both girls seemed to just take in the effects. The white glow over them seeming to fade slowly away. He was even a little surprised to see Nora still latched to Jaune seem to just melt into a state of comfort. Apparently whatever Jaune Arc had just done was soothing for his best friend a rare sight indeed. "So how do you girls feel?" He asked appraisingly wondering if what Jaune had said was true about the effects. Nora turned to him with a relaxed grin. "Like I just got a wonderful massage and yet just finished a good work out. Like I'm light and yet stronger. I felt something else, but it kinda faded, though my fingers did get zappy for a bit" Pyrrha nodded in agreement not willing to divulge the odd effect on her semblance.

Team JNPR all sat around the table each taking in the implications of this new discovery. Jaune had just learned what he thought was a normal aura thing was actually something called a semblance rather than an aura technique. Whatever a semblance was, he assumed it was a special effect. Pyrrha and Nora realized that they could go further than they already were in training and felt they could trust their leader to assist. Ren had just learned that he'd gained a surprisingly helpful Leader who wore a lot of his emotions on his sleeve. A rare find in a person, since even Nora had a better mask than this guy

The sound of an alarm broke their revelries, Jaune fumbling with his pocket to get out the hastily put away scroll that was ringing. But with Nora still clung partially to said arm it made it a bit more complicated causing the 3 others to chuckle at the dorky knight. As he finally freed the contraption from its temporary home he unlocked it. "Oh, thankfully it's just the early warning alarm. We should get going Grimm studies with Prof. Port starts in 10 minutes. Luckily it's only a 5 minute walk from here." The team of 4 stood up to put away their trays and head to class. Nora smirked and pointed forward confidently "Lead on Fearless Leader" Somewhere else in school the sounds of panic and things falling could be heard as Team RWBY realized they were going to be late for class.


	4. Chapter 3 First Day Blues And Aura Use

Ch 3 First Day Blues And Aura Use

 _Professor Port's Class_  
Jaune sat with his team in their seats towards the back of the classroom. From the way Ren had gazed at the back row longingly and Pyrrha didn't seem to enjoy people looking at her for some reason he decided they'd take the back corner. Nora didn't seem to mind and Jaune himself preferred not being in the front himself since it only led to troubles in his life. So, team JNPR was sat comfortably in their spot notebooks out when team RWBY came barrelling into the classroom at the last possible second. Catching the attention of most of the class much to Weiss's obvious displeasure. As the blonde eye landed affectionately on the heiress 'Ah Snow Angel looks beautiful even when angry' missing a similar look coming from his partner directed at him.

Jaune's eyes snapped to the front of the room when the disturbance settled his pencil instantly getting to work copying the diagrams on the board. The class hadn't even started and he already was learning about the monsters he was meant to face in his chosen career. The diagrams were detailed and well drawn which normally would've been hard to recreate except Jaune's personal art experience decided to come in handy. His pencil recreating and even making minor changes to better look like what few of the creatures he'd already seen. His eyes only ever leaving the page to take in the next diagram and its information on the beasts of darkness until Professor port started his speech. While everyone else felt their wills draining Jaune's Ocean eyes narrowed at the odd exuberance before a wry smile came to his face. He wasn't a fan of these types of teachers, but he understood how to work around them.

Pyrrha attempted to listen in on her professor with waning interest she wasn't sure what was supposed to come from this story. All he seemed to be talking about was his childhood in a broad sense and had only briefly spoken on dealing with the Beowulf in question. She wrote what little about the fight she could glean before chancing a glance at her team's notes. Nora while looking to be halfway between unconscious and barely conscious at least had a few things written down while her partner ren had 2 points and looked to be staring ahead listlessly. She felt kinda sorry for Ren seeing as she could tell he wasn't a morning person and his rather abrupt awakening haad not been kind on the guy. So she turned to Jaune wondering if he'd gleaned anything more then her and to her surprise, he'd filled the whole first page and a half of his notebook.

Jaune noticed that Port was giving little blurbs about how huntsmen and settlement populations interacted. Minor points like the dislike that frontier militia held or the fact that only the older generations understood the true need for huntsmen. He also noticed a focus on the point that huntsmen had to show themselves as a beacon of power and light. Now the need for that he understood from his days as a kid being told stories of his family's lineage. Grimm were attracted to negative emotions and the populace were easily spooked so huntsmen/heroes had to make the people seem like there was no danger or underplay the dangers as nothing more than trivial. He was also glad to hear the basics of unarmed combat against a Beowolf even if he hoped to never be in that position.

Pyrrha watched as her leader finished his notes and had to look away as Port's tone took on a more exaggerated grandeur. She watched as he boasts what a huntsman or huntress was supposed to be and then issued a challenge, one that Weiss seemed more than happy to take on. Pyrrha was glad the heiress had offered cause she herself didn't want to be forced into the spotlight so early into her life at beacon having had enough of that from her days as a tournament fighter. When the challenged was issued she noticed her partner pull out a different smaller notebook and as she turned to ask about it she stopped at the sight of him.

Jaune's eyes were analytical and filled with interest his mouth set into a firm half grin as he held the smaller notebook and pencil at the ready. His eyes gleaming with intent as he glanced between the cage and Weiss having started taking notes the second the heiress took her stance. His pencil scratching about as he took in the combat with an odd aura about him. It wasn't confidence, but damn did it make him look cooler to Pyrrha seeing this side. But she turned to watch her fellow classmate fight in case she ever needed to go up against the dust caster.

Ren was rather enjoying the change of pace the combat performance was bringing mainly for allowing him to regain his senses he'd lost from the Professors long winded bragging spree. But as his eyes focused on the fight and the girl's reactions to 2 different types of distractions he began to frown a bit. Definitely even more appreciative that he hadn't been saddled with her as a teammate she seemed way to high maintenance and he was partnered to Nora Valkyrie for Oum sake. Speaking of his leader the blonde swordsman was lasered in on the fight with a keen interest and scribbling down information like it was a goldmine. Again the quiet man couldn't help, but be glad about Ozpin's choice in the leader for their team.

Nora herself was decidedly quiet for herself, but that was technically normal for classes. Sure she wasn't exactly sitting still, but it was hard to keep from fidgeting when you had excess energy to expend. While she hadn't enjoyed Port's lecture she had at least appreciated his exuberance and attempts to make it less boring no matter how hard he flopped on that attempt. When the fight between Weiss and the boartusk had gone underway she smiled happily looking forward to something actively entertaining.

Weiss's fight with the boartusk was beyond entertaining Nora found it was also funny watching the prim and proper looking girl fall from some good advice and while the bomber wasn't a fan of the girl's attitude it was still funny. She turned to see Ren's reaction and found what she expected a small almost imperceptible frown as Renny wasn't too big on such attitudes. She moved on to Pyrrha and saw something that made her grin widen the champion was to busy sending glances at her Leader to pay the fight full attention. Though when she turned to see what her Farless Leader was up to she couldn't blame the spartan for looking. His Ocean blue eyes seemed to shimmer with intent as he analyzed the fight while seemingly capturing it all on paper. His face took on a rather attractive neutrally powerful shape that reminded her of Villians in comics. She turned back to the fight even happier than before knowing she would enjoy her new team.  
 _History class with Dr. Oobleck_

Jaune wasn't the biggest fan of this classes seating arrangement it seemed to not only split up the male and female students but also left him without any of his friends. Seeing as Ren, Nora, and Ruby were at different classes and Pyrrha was sat a few seats and rows away from him he was mostly surrounded by strangers. Not only that, but the guy directly behind him was a prick that was currently flicking stuff at his head while acting like he owned the world. 'I guess there are bullies no matter what school you go to. Hopefully, I don't have to deal with him.' He hoped as he watched the teacher buzz about the room.

The high paced speech and learning pace wasn't much to the Arc seeing as history was a class he was already pretty good at and was something civilian classes learned about. While it was nice to hear little things that civilians didn't know about history it was mainly just review for Jaune except for the actual combat aspects of history which apparently his old school had severely lacked any info on. It was actually really interesting to learn about past tactics and strategy as well as their effects on the state of Remnant at the times. Yet he was learning things that finally made parts of history make sense even if it was a... dark history to tell.

Jaune really was thankful that he'd paid attention in all of his classes in school especially history class now. If he hadn't he'd be swamped with more information then he'd know what to do with at a speed he couldn't comprehend and that would've made his already horrible disadvantage even greater. Something wet pelted the back of his head and the boy sighed to himself already knowing he'd just inadvertently challenge life to make itself worse for him. Something the universe was more than happy to prove time and again why he had to struggle for even the slightest chances for his dream rather than have to rely on the help he never got before.

Finally class got to a portion of the class he'd expected that collected groans from many of the other students. The beginning of the semester knowledge test that would help their teacher understand where everyone was on their historical knowledge. His eyes scanned the page and instantly went to work on the questions he knew 100% and then went down the list from easiest to hardest. He'd managed to be the first finished as he saw no point in putting unnecessary emphasis on anything that didn't ask for it. Now with 15 minutes left for others to finish, he had time which normally would be spent catching up on lack of sleep, but instead was being put forth to something that had his mind focused in interest practice.

Oobleck watched his students with a professional gaze hidden behind his thick lens taking in how everyone went about their work or lack of it. His gaze went to some of the students that Ozpin had pointed out to the many of the teachers. Some of them were acting as he expected of them and deferred little from what was known of their personalities, which was a bit sad as humanity was more than 2 dimensional. Then his gaze turned to someone that Ozpin said was a special case alongside one Ruby rose and while others would be confused how someone as plain as Jaune could be of interest a real researcher understood that great puzzles hid behind an ordinary commonplace standing.

He watched as the blond finished his test relatively quickly and while looking sleep deprived began to focus on something else. The good doctor watched with interest as the young man began to bring his aura to the forefront in such a way as to not distract others with its glow and began to slowly manipulate it. Ocean blue eyes seemed to watch the flow of the energy as it moved across the boy before he picked up a mechanical pencil lead. This drew Ooblecks interest further as he watched the known forger begin a basic yet hard to master process, the act of adding another item to your aura's protection.

His interest was momentarily shifted to see a rather irate Weiss who he guessed was now onto the part of the test pertaining to none Atlas viewed history. His eyes flickered back to the blond boy as he began to stress test the lead and revel with an analytic eye when it didn't crumble as usual. The doctor's inner researcher was rather happy watching someone else study with such intent as the boy moved to a technique that many trainees his ages had as their current goal. And the boy managed to surprise the Professor when he managed to stab the pencil lead into a rather tough eraser before it broke from the pressure of the aura technique. A marvel to behold as many people couldn't pull the same thing off on large items with a couple years of practice. This year was going to shape up to be so much the same as any other, but yet so different from every past year, he thought as he sipped his coffee.

 _Combat Class with Headmistress Goodwitch_

Glynda sat going over her class chart trying to decide the matchups for the first day of class a rather trying time as she had to find were each person needed to grow. While many thought their transcripts would assist in this endeavor few teachers accurately explained an initiates flaws rather they focused on their skills. Which was why even though she was over the moon at Ozpin for letting in such an obvious forger such as Jaune Arc she had to admit that his transcripts were actively more helpful. Sure he focused on making himself look good, but unlike any other transcript, he also made generalizations on flaws that were likely larger then they were.

For example, rather than say he had no real combat experience he wrote that he seemed more focused on a technique's written variables then active applications. Even when he wrote a surprisingly accurate account of his leadership abilities he'd actively put in that it was dulled by his social awkwardness, yet that did little to curb her aggravation with the boy and Ozpin. Ruby Rose was already an outlier that she was barely fine with and that was only because the girl had the skill and ability to move ahead of her age group. Jaune Arc had signed himself up for something he had no clue about. She'd nearly had a heart attack when she found out the boy hadn't even had his aura unlocked and Ozpin had learned of her ire after Initiation was over.

So while she was being professional, she may have also let her ire get the better of her when she decided to make the obvious bully Winchester be Arc's long term training partner. But she'd never admit to such a thing rather she'd explain that the matchup was set so that Mr. Arc learned to deal with stronger opponents without having him completely creamed in the first few seconds. And that the matchup would allow Mr. Winchester to learn not to underestimate his opponent while learning how to hold back if ever needed for capture missions. "Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester to the stage"

Jaune was internally having a panic attack while his face looked more like a teen dealing with sleep deprivation which I mean was also true. The 2 days before initiation he'd barely gotten any real sleep and it was still catching up to him as he'd stayed up to late last night panicking even more about the future. 'Damn I didn't think we'd have to fight so soon, I was so sure I'd have time to at least practice more.' He slowly made his way to the small arena with increasing trepidation, his mind wishing there was some kind of terrain to take advantage of. The boy he was saddled up against was the prick from History and he knew that losing this fight was just going to cement his future of being bullied.

When both boys got to the stage and prepared their weapons Glynda explained the tournament style rules once again. "You fight till your aura is read or your opponent is brought into a state they can no longer fight in. Begin!" With a smack of her crop, she watched as sadly the Large ginger boy charged with a scream at the blond. Glynda couldn't help her internal sigh at such a tactically stupid move giving the wobbly-legged blond time to dodge to the side and use his shield to block the return blow. When Cardin hefted his mace up again he began to taunt Jaune haughtily but seemed to be being ignored by the blond in favor of coming up with a plan. She doubted the blond knight would be able to pull anything off, but Ozpin had kept cryptically mentioning to watch his growth.

She watched with a passive face as the fight continued on and kept noticing something odd about Jaune's footwork. It'd go from well placed and masterful to basic and unpracticed like he was correcting himself to a textbook example of a sword and board stance. It was throwing off the Combat instructor as she wasn't sure she was seeing it right, as she'd watched him stumble just walking quite a few times since he'd arrived. And just as she went to look again to take notice the footwork seemed to stay at its awkward basics. Yet whenever she went to focus back on the whole match rather than just that one detail it'd flash by in her vision almost taunting her that something was off.

'Shit, shit, shit I'm getting creamed and I haven't even fought back yet. Oum why is it so hard to keep myself in the stance and why did it have to be a prick with a compensation weapon. Heck, who am I kidding I wouldn't know how to fight back even if I somehow managed t- Duck' His mind screamed the last part as he leaned out of the way of a mace swing aimed towards his upper body. He showed off a brief glimpse of his surprising flexibility as he kept his feet awkwardly locked in the stance and bent almost at a 90-degree angle. His aura flickered at where his hip met his spine and made it simple for him to spring forward back to standing straight.

Jaune had an epiphany that he'd forgot to bring his aura into the fight, it was so easy to forget the new skill when his adrenaline was pumping. So he tried to do what he did with the pencil lead before, but with his shield the thought of blocking the mace head on more instinctual then idea made. A brief easy to miss shimmer of white came over the already decently white shield as Jaune took on a full swing from Cardin aimed at his side. Both boys' eyes widened slightly as Jaune managed to not only stop the blow but push it off and set the larger male off balance.

Rather than take advantage of the opportunity like Cardin and Glynda expected Jaune just stood there with an odd look. Which meant that Cardin's blow meant to ward off any pursuit was for naught. After shaking off the tiny bout of surprise the bully sneered and decided to show the boy who was boss and prepped the red dust crystal in his mace. With a small charge and a yell, he let loose a wide swing at the blond knight's lower body in such a way that would force him to dodge or take on the blow full on. It didn't matter which the guy did the result was going to be the same the bully thought with a predatory grin.

Jaune looked up from his shield to Cardin then back to his shield before finally glancing at his Aura on the large class screen. He was in the low yellow after taking a constant beating till now, but the technique that was said to bleed off a bit of Aura hadn't really had a visible effect on his aura gauge that he could notice. 'I'm probably just misremembering the point it was at before' He thought as he focused on Cardin again and saw the guy's face change to a sneer. 'Oh gods he really looks like he wants to smash me' Yet even scared he saw the blow for what it was meant to be a full kill or combo starter and did the only thing his body could while frozen on the spot... he blocked.

Glynda watched as the final exchange happened and saw as Jaune was launched back from the explosion released by Mr. Winchester's weapon. The blond hadn't taken into account any possible tricks up the brutes sleeve and it had seemingly cost him as his aura was now in the red. Yet as she watched him roll across the stage she could've sworn he was smiling for a second. "Winner by Aura depletion Cardin Winchester" She spoke giving Jaune time to get up on his shaky legs. Before giving out after an after action report and advice about what went wrong for both competitors. Though Jaune seemed to be out of it and not paying attention much to her internal aggravation.

As Jaune sat down at his seat getting a few consolation pats from Pyrrha and a "you'll get him next time fearless leader" from Nora his mind was elsewhere even as his hand began writing down the advice Ms. Goodwitch had given him. He'd finally understood something from that fight and his mind couldn't help, but focus on this advancement. 'I was hit by the explosion for sure, but it was almost like my shield cut the explosion in half which is why I only seemed to be knocked back with my legs taking most of the beating. If you discount the slight numbness in my shield arm.' He'd been prepared to be knocked unconscious by the explosion fueled blow, but now he couldn't help but look forward to his free time. It was time to experiment and he couldn't wait to find out more about anything that would help him close the gap with his peers.


	5. Ch 4 Curious Killed The Cat

**Ch 4 Curiosity Killed The Cat, But Satisfaction Brought It Back**

 _Beacon Halls in between periods_

Jaune's mind was abuzz when he walked to his next class with Ren and Blake Belladonna the 2 quieter members of their respective teams. He'd run into the 2 of them in the hallway since his thoughts led to him walking slower to avoid chances of collisions and they had left late thanks to their boisterous partners. The lack of conversation would normally have made Jaune feel uncomfortable seeing as he tended to over think silences when he was part of a group. But right now his mind was trying its best to replay what had happened at the ending of his fight in combat class, as he attempted to memorize the feeling of aura application that he'd done purely by accident. He'd only glimpsed the technique since it'd been stated as a decently high-level technique that came after offensive cloaking of your own body.

The biggest detriment to Jaune's current thought process was that remembering a feeling or how you did something by accident in a high-stress situation with no real thought was beyond hard. Like being handed your work for an extensively long math problem where you had to go back and find what you did wrong. Except you could only glance at the paper and had to work mostly from what you remember doing right while looking for one tiny mistake in the piles of written work. Gods how he wished he had Shani's eidetic memory right now it'd make his life so much easier right now. But sadly he was more of a learn from doing versus a memorization learner and it showed from his past of failures.

Turning to look at his 2 travel companions in an attempt to distract himself from that particular self-loathing train of thought, Jaune tuned into them talking about enjoying a reprieve from their partners. A playful grin appeared on his face as he chuckled internally, his mind picturing chibis of the 2 ninjas being dragged around by their partners. Turning his attention to the only female from the 2 teams he hadn't spoken to yet he tried to think of what was a good way to insert himself. When something odd happened, Ocean eyes flickered up to the bow on her head as it moved and while that was a good conversation starter his mind took something else into account. 'Did, did that bow just move in 2 different directions?'

Now Jaune wasn't normally an easily distracted person, but some things would just war in his head like conflicting information. The current info being a bow moving in 2 separate directions with no air flow and it wasn't like that gentle sway that was caused by walking or shaking your head suddenly. 'I never understood why Iris said I was blind all the time. When I was always the one to spot little things easily' Somewhere in the middle of closing a deal Iris Arc felt the odd urge to sigh in exasperation.

Jaune began to go over the potential reasons for the bow moving so oddly his mind, as dealing with a large number of clothing sensitive sisters made such a topic more important than what most men would see it as. 'Well it could have been put on to lightly and the constant movement is causing it to shift? No, it'd be more lopsided if that was true. It could be the bow finally failing due to a lack of care for the material?' A critical glance backed by years of helping clothing savvy sisters instantly shot that idea out the window. There weren't many other reasons that would make sense and it was nagging at him.

Deciding that he'd take the simpler less self-confusing route so he could get back to confusing himself about aura 'Cause soul energy applications is a maze within a maze' the blonde decided to speak up for the first time on this walk. "So Blake I couldn't help but notice that the bow on your head is made out of material similar looking to your weapon's ribbon. Does it also perhaps double as an emergency patch repair for your weapon if the ribbon is broken?" The normally socially inept male using his survival skills from talking with his sister to hide his true thoughts.

Blake Belladona's attention was instantly turned from a relaxed interest in her comrade in arms against high energy partners to the one person she hadn't spoken 2 out of team JNPR. Her eyes locking onto his curious ocean orbs as her natural paranoia was being held back by rationalization. 'He's probably just trying to find a way to flirt with me if what Weiss was saying about him before initiation was true.' The monochrome themed girl thought before actually thinking about the question as it brought up a surprisingly interesting point she'd never thought of.

Ren watched as his leader that previously had been lost in his world joined the conversation and instantly grab the girl's attention. It was a bit odd seeing him casually ask a girl he didn't know about her outfit and weapon that he hadn't realized had a ribbon cause, to be honest, he was to busy fending off monsters to have noticed yesterday. The silence that descended because of said question was palpable, but not uncomfortable as it seemed Blake had been caught off guard with the comment. Though Ren couldn't help but notice how convenient sounding such a fashion choice would be for combat.

Blake decided that she needed to save up some extra lien in the future as a secondary ribbon for emergency repairs as her bow sounded way to good to not do since it would serve a double function. "No though the materials might look similar at first glance they are very much different, but I do admit that you bring up a surprisingly convenient idea. I hadn't thought of such an idea and it'd make carrying around a spare much less problematic." Jaune just nodded through his mind was focused on the short, but rather telling look of panic that had shone in her eyes for a brief moment. It was a look he knew well from seeing people attempting to play off flirting with the wrong twin sister.

Rather than inquire more the blonde knight just hummed in interest before focusing back on the path in front of himself. "Well glad I could help you with figuring that out. Though if you do replace the bow I'd recommend a dark obsidian color so that it'd blend better with your hair while also giving a hidden touch of color to your outfit." He didn't notice the rather odd looks both ninjas sent his way from the fashion advice seeing as neither believed he had much fashion sense before from his choice in combat clothes. As they dealt with that revelation Jaune got one of his own as they passed a team with 2 Faunus members one of with was wearing a hair band just before her wolf ears.

'Huh, I wonder if that dude ever accidentally pins his ears with tha-... ears, bow, odd movement?' Images of his limited interactions with Blake came about with a focus on the bow moving in ways that were off, but easy to overlook because of weather or movement. Then the image of his neighbor's kitten with a bow wrapped around its neck came about. Copy and paste the bow to the head and replace the wind with ear flickers and you got an indirect reaction that made no sense till the parts came together. Yet the revelation of Blake's likely Faunus heritage was instantly overlooked as his mind decided to replace the problem with aura and his eyes widened.

Blake and Ren having gotten over the surprisingly good fashion advice were again looking at Jaune as he had stopped. His eyes widened as he sat there and then instantly took up a shield stance his eyes staring analytically at his arm before his blazer's cuff began to lightly glow white from aura being applied. Both the silent stoics recognized the technique though one from melee applications and the other from a ranged technique. While Blake took it as Jaune realizing a techniques application as well as Ren, she didn't truly understand the intensity of said discovery versus time with aura unlocked. And as Jaune managed to accidentally shred his sleeve from aura overload she turned to continue heading to class.

Jaune's face morphed from ecstatic to horrified as his sleeve seemed to tear itself apart like it was being forced apart from the inside of the sleeve. He'd finally understood at least in a small part what he'd done with his shield by accident, but apparently, the technique wasn't as easy as he had assumed. He didn't know what he'd done wrong and while the success of even just figuring out the first step in the application of the technique was awesome his mind instead focused on the failure and overlooked the success as unimportant as he'd still failed to pull it off. His mind racing trying to figure out what he'd done wrong, how in Grimm was he suppose to replicate his accidental use from his fight with Cardin, and the frustration of not actually really figuring something out.

 _Dust Class with Professor Peach_

Jaune sat at his desk writing fervently as he took notes on a subject that he knew almost as little about as Grimm, Dust, and its applications. He was happy for the distraction this class gave him from his fruitless thoughts as he was always happy to learn more about something that could help him in his chosen career. While he knew the basics of dust he knew nothing of how it worked and how to use it. Sure he knew about burn dust from dust lighters, and shock dust used to power self-defense tasers like the one his mom had forced him to pack before venturing to Vale Proper. But he had no clue how to work with it, how it was manufactured, or how to use it in combat as he'd seen Weiss do at initiation. And he was eager to see if he could potentially add it to his own repertoire.

Sadly for the blond, the teacher was just going over the basics again and basic safety rules for the future when they worked with it in class. Nothing to big or profound to be gleaned for the boy besides the knowledge that he'd have chances to work with the material and not have to buy it himself. Though if he thought about it it would likely require him to buy his own for experimentation, but he'd leave that for when he actually knew how to handle what the teacher said could easily be a volatile resource. No point in buying something if it just blew up in his face or sent him to the infirmary and wasted the dust. But as he was thinking of how unlikely practice would be Prof. Peach mentioned aura use with dust.

Jaune's eyes locked onto the female Professor with an intensity that showed just how much he wanted his dream to work out. "Now class as many of you know activating Dust with aura while simple has the chance to go bad for you. Since many of us use aura reflexively even a simple application of our aura can accidentally activate the volatile resource which is why many measures are put into place to ensure you don't cause an unnecessary explosion." As she went over the basics of Aura's interactions with dust Jaune's notes were filling up at a rapid pace as not only the info, but potential uses such as a trap for other aura users was written down. There were many basic uses already that could be applied if he prepared for them ahead of time and had the lien to afford the dust needed.

Sadly his plans just gave him even more to think about, take into account, and practice with, meaning he was literally adding even more to his pile of catch up work. The fact that basic use and safety was being lightly touched on meant everyone here apparently had decent experience with natures energy crystals. Heck, when he looked at the whiteboard he could see what he hoped he was correctly guessing was bullet rounds, but with dust added to the mix for more firepower. Which meant not only did him lacking a range option kill his ways of attack, but it limited more than just his range of damage it killed off an avenue for dust application. He verbally sighed in defeat but continued to take notes. 'Maybe I should put dust off till I can defend myself better first. Having something on my body that could be used against others when I'm so easy to beat would just lead to criminals gaining a new resource.'

 _Beacon Cafeteria_  
Jaune walked into the cafeteria flanked by the 2 stoic members of his team and their sister team. Blake had her nose in a book he recognized and decided to not comment unless he wished to out himself as a fan of the series without due cause. Ren was flicking through notes for one of his classes more than likely reviewing something he found interesting. Which meant the blond of the trio had been left with his thoughts again which meant he was flipping between hyped and self-deprecating. Sure he knew logically that gaining a new skill took practice and time, but his easy use of aura that Ren mentioned made him impatient with his rate of success. Though oddly enough to most people Jaune looked just tired and a bit upset which most would assume what was the same reason as everyone else on the first day back in school, being bored and annoyed with reviews.

Jaune spotted Nora as he was walking, she was charging straight in their direction and if their morning was any sign then Ren was the current target. Since he felt bad about leaving the guy to her wake up call he decided to warn the man this time at least. "Grenadier at your 2 o'clock Ren coming in fast" A sigh along with an appreciative small smile graced Jaune as Ren shifted his weight and stance slightly to take the incoming projectile that was his best friend. Blake glanced up and around to try to spot the girl in question and was surprised how hard that was to accomplish until she noticed a pink blur dodging through one of the larger crowds. She was about to go back to her book until Jaune spoke up at a whisper she barely caught thanks to her enhanced senses. "Yang at your 6 coming in for a bear hug Blake"

Jaune decided that he should move towards the lines as he left the 2 recluses to their respective partners. "I'll grab you guys something from the line, just have Ren text me your order Blake" While Blake looked a bit upset to be abandoned she sighed and nodded before ducking under Yang's attempt to capture her and thus their game of cat and mouse began. Not too long after Ren nodded to Jaune acknowledging the smart move as he was tackled by a pink projectile that slid him a couple feet across the ground. "RENNY!" Nora laughed as she sat now on his back giggling in exuberance. Her leader couldn't help, but chuckle and shake his head, it was like having 7 siblings again, well besides the fact he never had a brother and he was crushing on Weiss.

Moving into line Jaune decided to pull out his scroll to go over what little he learned about his accidentally use of the aura technique and the basic idea the books gave him. Sadly there wasn't much information to go on since apparently, each individual pulled it off in varying ways, something about each person's aura reacting differently to that particular use. And as for his 2 "successful" uses of it, he didn't have much to go on. He remembered with his shield he was wishing that he could block the blow and not die 'Cause dying would suck so soon into my path to being a hero' and with his sleeve he'd tried to do something along the lines of including his clothing as a part of his body. He still didn't know why that had failed and so explosively or well implosively, he'd moved the aura there and hadn't really done much else with it at that point.

While looking at his scroll and the tiny diagrams he'd drawn of both the shield and his sleeve during their use he didn't notice someone big approaching him. It wasn't until a large shoulder slammed him backwards and caused him to stumble into the wall that he realized someone was there. Looking up he was met with the sneering face of one Cardin Winchester and his 3 teammates staringly challengingly at him. "Thanks for saving our spot in line Jauney Boy" The much bulkier and slightly taller male spoke condescendingly. Jaune a regular victim of bullies throughout his life subconsciously shrunk in on himself. "Oh uh hey... Cardin yeah no problem" He managed to squeak out as the 4 males turned away from him and started talking and laughing.

A tired sigh escaped the boy's lips as his early guess on the future was already coming true. 'Though I guess you could say I jinxed myself, I'm sure the universe would've screwed me over either way.' It was going to be a long and hard 4 years hopefully things would change as he raced to catch up with his peers. 'Peers' a self-derisive snort and a loss of some of the luster in his eyes came about until he finally got a message on his scroll. Apparently, Ren wanted some healthier options and Blake wanted some seafood and veggies both wanting water to drink. Turning to the cafeteria workers he gave them a charming smile as he ordered his food and started some small talk about food with them.

It didn't take long for the blond knight to get the 3 trays of food expertly balanced on his hands and arm over to the 2 teams. Luckily for him, Team RWBY had decided to join his own team at their table so he had 2 hyperactive arms waving for his attention to lead him. Walking by both Ren and Blake he allowed them to collect their trays before he sat beside Pyrrha greeting her as he sat with his tray of chicken nuggets and potatoes. He turned and instantly locked onto Weiss with a suave-ish smile that he assumed was charming as he winked at her. "Hey snow angel, how were classes?" The heiress rolled her eyes and with a huff ignored the blond male, but Yang turned to Jaune with a smirk. "Woh there ladykiller I didn't know you had it in you"

When her Lilac eyes locked onto him promising mischief he got nervous as his hand went to scratch the back of his head, a nervous twitch he never got over. "Oh uh, thanks...I guess" nervous laughter premised the start of the tables demise including his own. "Weaving words is just an Arc form" Ruby's silver eyes widened in horror as her other 2 teammates flinched almost imperceptibly. Jaune didn't think his pun was all that bad it was just meant to diffuse the tension a bit and Nora at least thought it was worth a snort. But as his Ocean eyes turned to Yang he saw the biggest shit eating grin on her face one that he recognized all to well from the twins. He'd just doomed the table to an avalanche of shitty puns hadn't he.

"Aww aren't you just a Jaunesome little guy, I'm sure you'll melt Weiss-creams frozen heart in no time. Though you'll need to add a little more Yang to your lines if you want to sweep her off her feet." Jaune groaned along with Ruby both in a pitiful manner that only someone who lived with 2 pun tossing family members could. Their heads both synchronized in timing as they let their foreheads thud against the table in annoyance. Pyrrha put on a well trained and polite smile as Ren sipped his drink unaffected keeping an eye on his partner who looked ready to burst. The table was subjected to a lunch filled with pun-liners the whole period, but hey at least it distracted Jaune from the knowledge he was being bullied again, right?


	6. Chapter 5 Time Wasted and Realization

**Ch 5 Time "Wasted" and Realization**

 _Beacon Courtyard Early Morning_  
Jaune continued his morning jog as sweat dripped down his body, he was pushing himself as usual before anyone else would be awake. Since he personally wasn't a fan of people watching his paltry attempts at conditioning himself when he was sure huntsmen trainees did stuff way harder to train. It was a testament to Jaune's stamina and aura that he could go on as long as he did every morning. But the downfall to being up so early without others to distract him was that he would end up thinking about the last 2 weeks. It wasn't a great experience for the young Arc as he'd continued to fail to find a breakthrough to the technique he was working on. Then there was the slowly worsening bullying of Cardin and his cronies, mixed with his continuous losses in combat class without any real improvement, less sleep, and add in trying to catch up on huntsmen studies. It seemed like Beacon wasn't going to give him an easy time during his stay.

Picking up speed as his natural stubbornness kicked in Jaune passed by one of his classmates from the second year. Velvet Scarlatina, his history classmate and fellow victim of Cardin, but for some stupid racist view versus the normal bully reasons. They hadn't really talked and only really knew each other through seeing each other being bullied by their fellow tormentor. Jaune normally would've tried to make friends with the girl since in class she seemed okay, but something was holding him back. He couldn't figure the girl out, while everyone else just acted disgusted with Cardin's bullying of her, rather than doing anything with made him annoyed, he had wondered how. How was Cardin capable of bullying a second year with his surprisingly low combat skills. 'Which is something coming from me' I mean even he could see she was well conditioned and a year ahead which meant more training.

So he looked into her a little bit and had learned that she was a powerhouse in close combat. Her weapon was not something he could find out about, but he knew she had one from the wording of peoples' answers. Then there was her team he'd seen glimpses of the human goliath that was Yatsuhashi he'd easily cream the whole of Team CRDL alone with just one swing of that greatsword. So why did she let this go, why didn't she tell anyone, because he knew she didn't tell any staff and her Team hadn't been informed. Which made no sense, Jaune didn't do such cause any extra attention or reason to doubt directed towards him was bad for him as his forgeries could come under scrutiny. But Velvet just did nothing really and it baffled him and made him suspicious, but that didn't mean he was avoiding her outright he still technically helped.

Velvet sighed as she relaxed on the bench she'd procured after training in one of the more out of the way training rooms. Her semblance was always finicky and required a lot of fine tuning that people never thought about. Not to mention her weapon that took advantage of her semblance was costly and even more finicky with high upkeep. But she refused to have others help her with this, she wasn't going to drag down her team more than she already had. Sure Coco always told her that she was stronger then she let herself take credit for, but it felt like she was always relying on her team for things. Plus they didn't like how she dealt with her bullying "problem". Sure Cardin and his posse were asses, but they would either grow out of it or learn the hard way why you don't bully your future allies. Fighting back would just end up making life harder for other faunus.

As the rabbit faunus looked up from her internal musings she caught sight of someone she recognized. Jaune Arc Leader of Team JNPR and fellow victim to Cardin, the 2 had a habit of running across each other's bullying sessions and not doing anything about it. At least that's what she originally thought until she found her team managing to pop up a minute or so after he left every time he was the one to find her. Yet she never returned the favor, not out of a lack of care or lack of thankfulness, but out of confusion. The blonde male was weaker then Cardin that much was obvious, but he gave such mixed signals that Velvet never knew what to do about his situation.

One of the biggest things was he always had a rather emblazoned look on his face when Cardin's team couldn't see it. He never truly stepped down as he only got beat down, and he never seemed to truly cower. Sure he did cower cause they were stronger and had more numbers, but the guy didn't stay down until he physically couldn't or they left. And then the fire would just fade from his eyes like it wasn't there at all and he'd sulk. He was inconsistent in how he did things and accomplished thing like how most victims would avoid their tormentor he just went on like normal until he was caught again. Yet he never whined to his team or the staff.

The next biggest reason she didn't do anything was, because Jaune Arc didn't look to want help. He took what he was dished and kept going, he had this drive to him that didn't seem to falter. Which during her inquiries of him led to her finding out that he also woke up early like her to train. But he was always up before her and while she would be taking a break he'd still be going. Sure he wasn't as fit as other students, he didn't look as strong, but he persevered with way more stamina than most. It was actually quite inspiring in a way if he didn't lose so handily in his combat class from what she heard. He gave off so many civilian signals yet he was here training to be a huntsman. And he didn't seem to be stopping for anything anytime soon from the looks of it.

As Jaune finished another lap around the courtyard he decided to pass by his fellow early morning trainee. At least he assumed as much with her being up early in her combat outfit, and her hair always being a touch damp when he saw her around this time. So switching to a more casual jog he made his way over to the second year girl. He stopped in front of her and started to regulate his breathing. 'So glad dance lessons with Iris and the twins gave me plenty of training tips too.' The brunette bunny looked up at him a bit in surprise as he gave her a smile that he hoped didn't look awkward. "Hey Velvet right? I see you're an early bird like me. Jaune Arc by the way" He stated holding out his hand to shake. He'd put off talking to her for to long his mother had taught him better than that.

Velvet blinked away her surprise and awkwardly accepted the handshake as she returned his greeting. "Yeah well, early morning is the only time I can focus on myself without my team on my back. I know we have history together right?" She returned his nervous smile with one of her own not sure how to go about things. Jaune decided to take that problem away as he continued the conversation nodding to her question. "Oh, I can understand that my team is great and all, but Pyrrha hovers a bit too much and Nora doesn't let me have time to myself. Not on purpose mind you, but her antics fall back on me so I have to subvert them or tone her down." A brief, but warm smile with a good-natured chuckle came from the blond as he thought about his team. "Though luckily I have Ren even if it's hard to converse with him at times him being so... passive?"

Velvet couldn't help but smile a bit as well since his explanation reminded her of her team in their early times as teammates. Yatsu was a big softy that was always hovering over her in case she needed help, Fox was just kinda quiet and passive which wasn't bad, but made conversation hard sometimes. Then there was Coco, and gods she was glad that she wasn't the leader of the fashionista. Being in charge of her team leader sounded like a nightmare with only the hope of Fox and Yatsu helping making it even have a chance at being viable. She did not envy Jaune's position as a team leader if anything she pitied him if Nora was anywhere near as bad as Coco. "Yeah my team has a similar setup, so I can see where you're coming from." She chuckled remembering her first year with her team and some of the shenanigans they'd gotten into.

Jaune not really sure how to continue the conversation decided he'd leave it on a positive note. "Well I was just stopping by to warn you that it's 6:30, so if you want to get in your shower first like I'm planning to I'd head on out now" He pat the older girl on the shoulder subconsciously, and instantly felt awkward about it, but since he'd already done it he thought he'd at least give her a boon for the unnecessary contact. His semblance flickered to life for the last 2 pats as he turned around to leave waving over his shoulder. Velvet for her part didn't really react to the shoulder pat as Coco had desensitized her too much worse so it barely registered. "Yeah, thanks for the heads up" She stated as he walked away from her, leaving her to her thoughts.

No sooner had he stopped waving did Velvet realize something groundbreaking to her. She looked down at herself and then back up to the Blond leaving her. She felt amazing and not in the romantic cliche way that Coco's romance novels always portrayed. No this was way more natural her aura had just partially refilled out of nowhere. Having lived and trained with it for so long and having more focus and knowledge of her aura's limits and recovery from semblance training. Velvet knew something had just happened to make her reserves refill like someone just poured more in out of nowhere. This knowledge was accompanied by this oddly warm feeling like her body had been hugged by an invisible warmth. Her aura was flowing easier than ever and felt more... potent like the brief glimpse she had of her Professor's when she'd had her aura unlocked. Her aura even felt like it was almost as potent as said full-fledged huntsman.

By the time her mind came to terms with this new influx of information and sensations Jaune was long gone. Leaving the faunus at a loss for words, the enigma that was Jaune Arc became that much more confusing and yet so much simpler. Cause anyone that just helped a stranger recover and recoup without any mention of it or obvious reasons had to be someone kind. Few people let people know about their semblances unless it was hard to hide. Much less did they allow the advantages to be passed onto people that they weren't friends with. Another thought struck her as she began to bounce in her seat. 'Wait if it's more potent and flowing easier then I might be able to pull off something new. And it's not like I would be down less aura than usual. Heck, it even feels like it's recovering a bit quicker than normal too' And with that Velvet Scarlatina shot off for her usual training room with the zealous of a researcher on the edge of a breakthrough.

 _JNPR Dorm Bathroom_  
Jaune had quickly made it back to his room for a quick shower before his team woke up, but that shower was no longer short. He sat stopped mid head scrub suds of shampoo covering his hair and hands with a dumbfounded face of realization. 'Oum how have I been so stupid. My semblance, my Grimm damn semblance. It's literally an enhancement semblance and I know what it does for others, it empowers them, their recovery, and their control. Why wouldn't my own semblance apply to me then? How did I overlook something so obvious?' He was currently a mix of pure joy and self-scathing at this realization. All that time spent failing, again and again, blowing shit up in his own face. Damaging clothes that he had to repair himself or be forced to pay for their repairs, breaking and exploding school supplies, accidentally exploding his water bottle.

All of the time agonizing over not understanding how to work with his aura, all of it could've been avoided with a simple memory. He literally had a semblance that made all of the control and application easier! Sure it probably wouldn't refill his aura, or boost the recovery rate since you can't boost your own recovery with the same reserves you're boosting. But as he thought about using his semblance some part of him just felt like it would help. Like a piece of him was telling him he was on the right track, and giving him hints on how it would work boosting him. He wasted no time then on applying the shampoo as he reached out and grabbed his toothbrush. Which he kept near the shower cause 7 sisters made brushing while showering a habit to save time.

Focusing first on himself he just let his aura flow as the water pelted his back and slid soothingly down his body. He could kind of feel how his aura moved about in an odd way, so it was time for step 2. He focused a little deeper on the part that was both natural and unnatural to him the feeling of his semblance. And then he mentally willed it to come to effect on his own aura. As his focus was split on the 2 different feelings and then his body began to glow a low, but opaque white. And like that the 2 feelings became one that was new and just as before, similar. His aura now felt like it was moving more smoothly or more efficiently like he had cleared a blockage. He felt like it was also stronger, but not in a way he could really describe and yet he felt like he could block a bullet with his hand without much effect to him. Then again it could already do that, but hey he was still getting used to having a skin level forcefield cut him some slack.

Jaune just kind of reveled in the feeling as he enjoyed the oddly satisfying feeling. He felt a bit more agile, a bit stronger, a bit tougher, like his mind was a touch clearer and faster, and yet it was a calm feeling. Not like some raging power boost, but a subtle push forward a guiding hand leading you on the right course to more strength in the future. And then he remembered the toothbrush in his hand as he subconsciously squeezed it harder than normal. Focusing on the feeling of his aura and thinking back to what he accomplished in the split second of his first fight with Cardin that he kinda remembered after 2 weeks of thinking about it. A white glow enveloped and then melded into the toothbrush, but rather than gathering like he kept focusing it was like a part of him kept recalling the energy.

He fought to keep the energy contained as that wasn't what he wanted, but then stopped the technique. 'Why do I want to keep it there though?' His mind suddenly latched on that thought as a feeling that that approach was wrong seemed to just whisper to his being. Yet why was it wrong, if he wanted something else to have and use aura he needed to give it aura, right? The sudden banging on the bathroom door knocked him from his revelry at the same time the effects of his semblance wore off. Apparently not staying as long when constantly in use or maybe cause it was used on him and not others. But his attention was claimed by Nora yelling making sure he hadn't hurt himself in the shower. Poking his head out confused he checked his scrolls clock and his eyes widened.

7:45am, he had been in the shower too long, but much more importantly they were going to be late if he didn't hurry. With a flourish, he managed to clear out his hair, turn off the water, start drying himself and get his clothes set up. In a little over a minute, he was out of the bathroom dressed and with his hair wrapped in a towel to continue drying it. "Sorry, guys I must've lost track of time." He stated as he rushed to collect his school stuff and assignments due. His teammates were allowed to witness Jaune in a state rarely anyone even family saw. His fully competent form as he effortlessly moved about the room with a grace that conflicted with the rest of his stay at Beacon. His ability to notice things as he grabbed things from piles and even grab some stuff that Nora had forgotten was due for her a stark contrast to his usual denseness. And then the towel was off his head and he spoke in a semi-commanding voice. "Let's go guys, don't want you late because of me" Nora saluted with a wide grin "Lead on Fearless Leader" Which got a giggle from Pyrrha as Team JNPR left to their class skipping breakfast for once thanks to their leader's "negligence".

 _Beacon Cafeteria Lunch_  
Ruby Rose watched as the NPR of Team JNPR shoveled food in there mouth or as close to it as Ren got. Yet their leader just sat there idly eating his food as he stared rather intensely at an oldish looking toothbrush he had for some reason. It was odd seeing her First Male friend at Beacon look so intent and also not flirt with Weiss even once so far through lunch. Not so much as a Snow Angel or wink in the heiress' way which was odd with how he usually couldn't seem to stop himself. The red reaper wasn't sure what was going on with Jaune, and she wanted to ask what. Then again Yang was giving her that stare that promised boy based teasing right now which Ruby really didn't want to deal with.

Sadly for the little reaper, her curiosity won out as she asked the question on the rest of the table's mind. "Jaune... Jaune? Why are you staring so intently on that toothbrush?" His eyes lost focus on the first call of his name and locked onto Ruby after the second one. "Huh, Oh Yeah Rubes?... Oh well, that's simple I'm practicing" The way he just casually stated that confused everyone at the table as none of them could fathom what practice staring at a toothbrush accomplished. So Ruby decided to speak up again in hopes he'd make more sense this time. "Yeah, like I totally see that~, But uh practicing what exactly Jaune?" Not wanting to look stupid in case what he was doing was obvious as she hadn't looked at the rest of the table's clear confused looks.

Ren and Blake both normally wouldn't have paid much mind to the oddity of Jaune staring at a toothbrush. Ren from living with Nora, Enough said, and blake from usually not caring about things that might lead attention her way. But both had learned not to assume with Jaune's surprisingly sound practical and fashionable advice with Blake's bow. So when Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly and spoke they both listened to the table for once. "Uhh, it's nothing all that Great Ruby, just uh me trying to pull off basic combat reinforcement on it without making the glow obvious." His awkward laugh sold the picture quite soundly making all, but Ruby stop focusing as if it wasn't that big. Even if Ren knew it was kinda big for his short time having Aura.

Ruby's eyes began to shine in interest as Jaune just stated something beyond awesome, this is why she loved having him as a friend. Besides him not treating her like a kid, or happily talking about weapons with her, or his like of comics, or that he was helping her out in leader class, or that they were comrades in being behind in certain classes. Now he was doing something amazing with aura that she was sure few understood as much as her. Applying aura to an item wasn't an easy task, much less without making your aura prevalent. The reason few people knew about this is because it was normal for combat classes to give aura sensitive metal dust alloys to students for crafting weapons. Thus it made the process super easy and it's not like the alloys were super expensive so repairs were easy to pay for as they rarely broke.

But Jaune, now he was doing something she'd never managed combat enhancing everyday materials with aura. What made this amazing was that it required an immense amount of aura control to accomplish that most huntsmen weren't willing to waste time perfecting as it didn't help them fight Grimm. But her Uncle Qrow had told her a story about a huntress that fought with anything on hand. Everything she used was a weapon to fear from a measly pebble to a fallen branch, even a leaf with enough concentration. Though she heard later that it wasn't to combat viable as it required too much concentration, but it had been good practice till she found out her uncle had tricked her. Or at least that had been his excuse for his lies and treachery.

But really it was so cool and she almost wanted to tell everyone how stupid they were for ignoring Jaune's feat. But then again he looked awkward enough being focused on and she knew the worries of not wanting to stand out 'I have normal knees!'. So instead she just decided to stare at the toothbrush as well, which while her team looked at her weird they didn't do anything else. Yang basically accepted it as a part of her usual quirks since anything about Ruby was either easy to understand or unlikely to ever make sense. So she just took many of her actions in stride as a part of Ruby's charm.

Jaune for himself wasn't truly advancing from the part he'd gotten to in the shower. The brush would be given aura and then it'd slowly drain back out like he was filling a container with a hole in it. Luckily said hole led back to him, but that didn't mean he was any closer to understanding then he was in the shower. So why was a part of him so sure locking the aura in the plastic item a bad Idea? It was odd and yet it wasn't, which funnily enough just made it feel even weirder. Heck having aura and a semblance was still a thing he was getting used to. He might've even likely forgotten all about both existing if he didn't have his semblance to give him odd ideas. Lunch was almost over sadly if the vibrating alarm from his pocketed scroll was a sign which meant less focus on his problem and more school work. 'Ugh, why do all schools have so much paperwork. You'd think a combat school would have more physical learning'

 _Training Room_

Jaune stood leaning against his own knees his breath ragged his training shirt drenched in sweat as Crocea Mors was strapped to his hip again. He'd spent as time as he could after classes trying to recreate the situation he was put in before in the hopes of stumbling on his action before. Now he wasn't stupid and focusing on just that he also made sure to train regularly, but hey learning to defend well was important right? At least if he wanted to survive longer then a couple minutes against a real monster on his own. But he just couldn't get the image out of his head of the explosion being split down the middle, but he hadn't used it with his weapons yet. It was too big of a risk, the potential that he could lose his only weapon in Beacon was too big.

Flopping on the bench inside the training room he grabbed a water bottle draining it of its contents with a fervor. His body was sore, muscles burned from use, and his pulse was barely returning to normal from all this effort yet he wasn't any closer to figuring out the technique. He slammed his fist into the floor in exasperation as his eyes sharpened and he growled at himself. 'Look at me I can't even pull off something every huntsman in training should be able to do. Why can't I ever be good enough, why can't I find some way to push forward, why is it so hard to grab my dream?!' His breathing evened out and the rage at himself cooled to a steely determination as he stood back up again.

He wasn't done not when his dream was finally within grasp, all he had to do was catch up, but progress was slow going. Fighting against his dancing instincts to take the shield stance was a problem he was barely getting past, his conditioning couldn't be sped up or else he'd lose out on training time. Then his damned aura wasn't making life easier, or well it was he recovered faster than ever, but it just didn't seem to want to listen to his commands. He couldn't get it to do what he wanted, even when he knew how it felt to have stronger control he couldn't recreate the feeling. The shield coating had been an accident he couldn't reproduce, but he just couldn't stop now. He needed every advantage he could get to catch up with his peers, and then overpass them.

Jaune stood again on sluggish legs that burned from the work, his arms ached as he drew his weapon and shield. Yet he tiredly tried to take his stance again before reaching over to his scroll and activating the training drones. His ocean eyes like storms as he glared at three 3 knight drones each with a different melee weapon. They activated fully and then were off at a sprint, the blond was taken by surprise on the speed. He'd been fighting them for hours now and they hadn't moved that fast before? 'Gods I must be more tired then I thought, but this is the lowest setting. If I can't beat them I'm just going to fall further behind.' His eyes stormed even more before he let loose a yell as he charged the one on his shield arm. Steel met alloy as the claymore of the drone was locked to its body by his shield.

Shoving with all his faltering might Jaune went for an overhead swing at the robot but realized his mistake as not only had he left his back open, he'd just freed the enemies weapon. Looking behind himself his perception of time slowed as the glaive and daggers of the other bots were moving to strike him down. His sword swing was being knocked aside by the claymore and his body was being thrown off balance. It was going to be another failure and so much quicker this time than last. Yet a low guttural growl escaped his lungs as he refused to go down without a fight. His left foot slide across the floor bleeding off the momentum from his sword being knocked aside as his knees bent closing his body in on itself.

As the blades finally came upon the blond a ringing of metal was heard as 3 weapons reverberated off a shield. Then the shield dipped to the side as Jaune twisted his whole body his hips doing most of the work diverting the blows. His sword stabbed its point into the ground a bit blocking the claymore by what looked to be luck as the shield came back around to its original target. Yet instead of it's full surface its edge was used and slammed into the neck joint of the bot, but no sooner had that happen was he struck down with the pair of daggers he'd deflected meeting the back of his head and the drones stopped as his aura finally reached red a buzzer going off in the room. He'd lost again, he failed again, why couldn't he do anything right?! His mind going back to its usual self-scrutiny as he trudged over to the bench and flopped on it to tired to do anything and his head hurt. His vision fading as he decided to let his body rest and he slipped into a much-needed nap.

His mind still haunted by the technique he couldn't accomplish, the fighting style he couldn't pull off, and his life's new hurdles. Yet as sleep took him he would forget about what he'd managed to pull off against the bots a feat that worked so well in his favor that looked quite similar to something he did at initiation. Someone sitting behind a computer screen sipped a warm mug of coffee as they switched the drone level back down to lvl 1 from 4. A small hum of interest passing their lips until the screen switched to another student training themselves. This year really was shaping up to be an interesting one they thought smugly.


	7. Chapter 6 Life is play, Team Play

Ch 6 Life Is Also Play, Team Play That Is

Beacon Dorms, Team JNPR Room

Jaune stepped out of the shower after a good long run during the early Saturday sunrise. While this run was longer than usual it was likely because Jaune decided to take a break from moving his aura into items and instead focus on moving it through himself. It was taxing his mind, and also his wallet seeing as he blew up over 100 pencils by now. Heck, that sleeve from before was still being redone, since he wasn't the strongest at finishing a project he didn't start himself. But that stuff didn't matter today, no today was all about physical training, and maybe some slacking on his school work. Since he still had a Sunday to get everything done, and mixing a tired body with a tired mind, was a bad move.

So as he finished toweling off his hair flipping it into place a couple of times to give it that natural look he liked. He exited the shower greeted with a studious Pyrrha and Nora with an unconscious Ren. A small smile graced his face before he moved over to the other boy. Slowly tapping his back collar bone and slowly kneading his shoulder blades at a nerve cluster got an instant effect as Rose pink eyes glazed with sleep opened to gaze at him impassively. "Shower is free, me and both the girls have already taken one. Plus we have got group training once Pyrrha and Nora finish their history readings."

While the Ninja of Team JNPR efficiently slinked his way into the bathroom Jaune sat down and picked up a notebook. A sense of calm surrounding him as he pretended to read, but his eyes gave away his panic. 'Oum, why did I have to bring up team practice so early, and with my semblance being out to them I was strong-armed by Nora to join her work out regiment after. ' He was very very unprepared. He had even forgotten to get some basic practice in with his weapons thanks to his obsession with aura recently. And another delay with an excuse of double booking was thrown out the window since Pyrrha had joined him for the sparring room booking. Meaning in the simplest terms he was screwed beyond belief.

Pyrrha and Nora were both sneaking glances at their leader for similar, but ultimately different reasons. While they were both curious about his plans for team training, Pyrrha was also locked on his eyes for their shine and depth. While Nora was amazed at how quickly he filtered through info or was it pictures, was he a great artist, maybe he was some kinda Vicasso. Though they both noticed as he switched notebooks that he had a surprisingly large number of multi-colored and organized notebooks under his bed.

It was kinda surprising to realize they hadn't noticed he'd effectively barricaded his bed's bottom with notebooks that all seemed new and recently worked on. Some were even marked on the spine, probably to help organize them. It would've looked kinda weird if it wasn't hilariously bordered by his impressive stack of comic after comic that guarded the other 2 sides of the opening. The guy was a comic-phile if the sheer number said anything.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312

Team JNPR could all be seen doing various stretching and prepping their bodies for combat. Interestingly enough their stretching was as diversified as their fighting styles. Ren worked through slow bends and reaches, while Nora focused more on loosening joints through rotation of the limbs and body, Pyrrha focused more on limbering up and the occasional hop, while Jaune proved to be the oddest. Sitting on one leg the other was pointed to the ceiling making an almost perfect 180-degree split, while one arm would reach around his body from various angles. As he switched legs, doing a full spread squat in between, he'd pass his notebook to the hand that had just wandered. The whole time reading an even occasionally flipping pages back and forth.

Ren yet again found himself chuckling at the stupified expressions of both his long time friend and the Mistrali champion. After quickly learning that he shouldn't underestimate his leader he found that others couldn't as easily hop on the same train. It was quickly becoming his favorite pass time watching his leader confuse and awe others. He had to relent though cause even he hadn't expected the boy to be so flexible or coordinated while distracted. But then again he was realizing more and more, that the more distracted Jaune was the more he showed off his coordination. Almost like a switch between dorky and focused hidden away.

After their stretching session ended Jaune quickly began to pace in front of them before clearing his throat and turning around. Holding out his notebook that was titled "Team JNPR" he showed off 2 pages that held basic sketches of Ren and Nora's weapons, as well as some basic bullet points. "Seeing as Ren and Nora have the most experience and coordination, I believe rather than skip focusing on you 2. We should instead try in alternation to include me and Pyrrha into your usual combinations. By throwing a wrench into your teamwork we can see what you 2 need to work on in including others. While also help us spot some of your signals and how you 2 flow in combat." He turned to look up with a confident gleam to his eyes not noticing the momentary flicker of awe in Nora's eyes. As he gave a naturally confident grin "So who's ready to get used to falling flat on their ass?"

A hiccup level giggle escaped Pyrrha as Nora snickered at the imagery, while Ren playfully rolled his eyes. "Good, then we'll start with Pyrrha as the opponent while the rest of us target her. Then switch out one person till we've all fought as the one at least once." That got a confused look from the 3 teens though, which Jaune noted before nodding. "Well, you can't test out how to fight together without having an opponent. And the fewer targets we have the more the 3 people fighting will likely step on each other's toes. Plus it lets the 4th person practice fighting at a disadvantage." 'Or helps give me an excuse for why I'm being used as a mop for the floor.' Ren and Pyrrha hummed in approval while Nora started to fidget in anticipation.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2 Pairing 1

If there was one thing about her leader that Nora couldn't grasp about her leader it was his sudden shift in capabilities. It was made super obvious last rotation when he was himself, and boy was that a thing to see. He was a mess his attacks slow, his patterns predictable, and while his defense was solid it was awkward. Which mirrored drastically with him on the team of 3. While he was hesitant his eyes were sharp, his attacks prominent and concise, his defense ironlike, and he was had to predict. Even if he wasn't meshing well with them he was like a different person. So she was a bit distracted as the started this Round after a 10-minute break.

The minute the fight started Nora was caught off guard by a shield charge from Pyrrha. Whom was happily taking advantage of her distracted mindset, but yet another change happened with her leader. She watched as he and Ren shot forward in sync almost like she was used to seeing herself doing. He slid his shield into Pyrrha's path and did a shield bash to throw her momentum to the side. Before crouching and letting Ren Jump off his now stairlike leg over his shoulder to slash into Pyrrha's quickly reforming defense. Ocean blue eyes met Shocking aquamarine ones before they flickered down and then rolled slightly before he bit his teeth together. It was nearly instinct that drove her to follow the signal, while her mind wrapped around the fact that Jaune knew one of her and Ren's signs.

Jaune barely blocked a sword stroke from Pyrrha which in turn allowed Ren to dance around behind him. Nora used the now awkwardly held out shield blocking Pyrrha's vision of her to do a sweeping uppercut. The kite shield moving at the last second taking Pyrrha off guard and barely able to put her own shield in the way. Since she had thought she was taking advantage of Jaune's horrible stance with a shield bash. Hammer met metal full-on for the first time in her second team bout VS the Invincible girl. And man was it satisfying to see Pyrrha skid awkwardly before her feet left the ground and she was shot back away. A smart move on her part as she balled up behind her shield to avoid a salvo from Ren.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2, Pairing 2

As Ren peppered Nora with his SMGs he couldn't help, but wonder about their leader. The boy was a mystery, his fighting was crude, unpolished. and horribly textbook. Yet in just 2 fights together the boy was almost as easy to fight with as Nora. It was Jarring to experience as a tired Pyrrha went in for a machine gun stab with her javelin. To see Jaune flow under one of the champion's back swings and effectively placing himself in between the incoming hammer and allowing him to tilt his shield to pass off the hit. Even if it wasn't a full hit to see someone not built like a truck casually take a hit from Nora. And then Rose pink met Ocean blue and he heard 2 teeth clicks and saw a double wink.

Rushing forward as Nora was now forced to dance away while trying to regain control of her already air-born swing. Trying to gain distance from Pyrrha's reach only to have her balance almost retched to the side. Jaune locked his blade on the underbelly of the hammer using the shaft to propel it further to the side. He faked a shield bash that allowed Ren to slash into Nora's exposed side with Stormflower. The full side sing from Nora used to expertly gain distance as she forced them to create distance again. Ren watched Jaune turn to Pyrrha with his shield held to his eyes and suddenly after looking at the blonde Pyrrha and Jaune shot forward together.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2, Pairing 3

Emerald green eyes locked with Ocean blue as Jaune slid his gaze down and then jerked his sword hand for no reason. Before he shot forward with her at his side. Nora jumped over and behind him to avoid a salvo of Ren's SMGs. Jaune's shoulder charged with his shield ranting Pyrrha cover from the rain of bullets. His sword moved to the side and low as he swung for the legs. Such an easy low slash was seen and dodged with a slight hop. Only for Pyrrha to slide in behind with her own low slash taking advantage of the fact he was still landing from the slight Jump. Her sword met its target just in time for her to move back as he lost balance.

The Champion hadn't even seen Jaune signal Nora, but even then she felt like he had. Since the roundhouse swing was to perfectly match with his shitty executed, but distracting shield bash. Positioning Ren perfectly to be knocked across the stage with a large loss of aura. The silent fighter quickly rolling and returning to his stance as Pyrrha and Ren turned to look at their male teammate for a split second.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2, Pairing 4

Jaune barely managed to catch his breath as the 2 girls looked to Ren for a split second. He was glad for the moment he gained when they all rushed forward, but almost into each other. Cause that was another second to catch his breath and try to remember how to position his feet again. Trying too hard to keep up with fighting(not dying more like it), remembering what his sword and board book said to do, and trying to figure out what his team would do. Too many thoughts clouded his judgment, causing him to fail to correctly block a hammer swing. His shield arm was now pinned to his side and arm before he could even think about bracing his legs felt the burn as bullets crashed into them. Ren was raining pain from a distance and reminded him he had other opponents, but it was too late. Pyrrha was already in his blind spot and he barely had time to turn enough to see the shield meet his face with a crunch from his nose. And dropping him for the count was a boot to the chest that knocked him off his feet freeing Nora to finish her swing. Knocking him into the red and all hopes for air out his lungs.

The horn signaling someone's aura going into Red sounded. Causing the 3 to back off as they watched their leader gasp for air like a diver barely making it to the water's surface for air. It was scary how big the blondes reserves were. They had been in the lower orange after each fight, well Pyrrha in upper orange, but then Jaune would top their aura off while giving them a boost. The boost wore off after one fight, but it had given them all the reprieve they needed. And yet 8 fights later, 2 of which where he was the single, each lasting a minute and a half. The blonde leader had finally fallen into the lower orange and then down to red. Those reserves were nothing to joke at, especially since they were feeding a semblance at the same time.

As the team sat around or laid in Jaune's case, they greedily guzzled their waters. Each going over things they noticed about themselves or each other that they could talk about. Once he finally regained all his lost air and some extra to last through basically drowning himself in the refreshing water. Jaune turned to his team and tiredly clapped. "So *huff* who wants to go first in telling us what *huff* they noticed?" He looked between his team as they all stopped long enough to look between themselves and then focus on him. Well damn, he had hoped to avoid going first so his brain could catch up with his no longer dying body. But they seemed to all be perfectly happy to put him out first, ouch.

"Well, let us start with Pyrrha" A slight flinch from the redhead. "While your attacks and defense are powerful you seem to have trouble timing things with Nora and Ren. While I know I'm slow enough to easily keep up with you gotta work on keeping to everyone's flow. You push ahead to much and try to hard to make each fight a one on one. So maybe slow down and watch others first, or we can have you watch how they fight together next time. So you can read them without the heat of battle. Buuttt you performed beautifully when we finally cornered whoever we fought. Using us to further back your target into a corner. It was very effective and helped give me and Nora an opening we could exploit."

"Moving to onto Ren" The ninja sat a little straighter. "While I understand that you are used to working with Nora, You can't just superimpose those tactics with everyone else. Nora's fighting style isn't how others fight, you can't expect to pull off things the same with others and how they fight. Though I have to admit you took advantage of my shield well. I never thought I could be used as such efficient cover." He gave the boy a small smile and a nod. To which he got a nod in return.

Turning to Nora who was vibrating in her seat, but whose eyes were clear and focused. "And to Nora, I have to admit, you're probably the best of us at teamwork. You used opportunities that Pyrrha created well, took advantage of my defenses for avoiding fire, and your hammer was always in motion taking us into account. But you also have a charging problem, you close distance to quickly and some of your swings forced me and Pyrrha to back off and made it hard to take advantage of opening the swing made. As well as you need to work on swinging with your off-hand without support from your hip more. It might just be nothing, but I feel like you rely too heavily on your right hand and body to swing and neglect the use of your left hand. But otherwise, I couldn't help noticing that outside of your large swings you are good at keeping your team in mind when attacking." He gave the bomber 2 thumbs up and a large smile. That she quickly returned with gusto.

As he let each of the 3 filter through the information. Jaune started to psych himself up. Preparing himself mentally for what was to come next. 'Okay just calmly ask them about what they think you did wrong, but make sure to have them focus on the teamwork aspect. Don't let them think about your direct performance or even your fighting while by yourself' As he opened up his mouth to ask the sparring room door was kicked open. "You were right Rubes they were training together too." The boisterous voice of Yang grabbed all their attention as a tired, but grinning Yang walked into the room. Only to be distracted by the shower of rose petals that spawned right before Ruby collided with Jaune. Without even thinking Jaune braced himself with his back foot and spun. Grabbing Ruby's shoulders before he stopped and set her on his feet. "Wooh, careful Ruby you almost killed me" But the pout coming from the Shimmering silver-eyed demon turned on him caused him to stop. As the reaper whined, "Why didn't you invite m- Us to train, I wanted to see all your weapons in action too."


End file.
